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A vivid journey into ancient and medieval Jewish folklore—where biblical legend and world history come together in one extraordinary anthology.
In medieval Germany, a Jewish merchant named Eleazar ben Asher Halevi created one of the most comprehensive and unique anthologies of Jewish historical legends ever assembled. Drawing on lesser-known myths, apocryphal writings, popular folk tales, historical vignettes, and visionary and apocalyptic accounts, Eleazar wove together an ambitious world history that preserved not only Jewish memory but also the great historical dramas of other civilizations.
Spanning from creation to Armageddon, The Book of Memories is both a majestic salvage work and a dazzling treasury of storytelling. From thoughtful reflections on creation, resurrection, and redemption to more lighthearted and colorful stories of adventure, tricksters, and magic, Eleazar preserved diverse Jewish traditions that would have otherwise been lost to history. A remarkable work of world literature and history, this collection offers a rare glimpse into the rich culture of Jewish folklore and the medieval world that shaped it.
Mira Balberg is Professor of History and holds the David Goodblatt Chair in Ancient Jewish Civilization at the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of Fractured Tablets: Forgetfulness and Fallibility in Late Ancient Rabbinic Culture, among other books.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Eleazar ben Asher Halevi’s Testament
Part I: Beginnings
Before the World Was Created • The Six Days of Creation • Debating the Creation of Humans • Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden • Human Life: From Conception Until Death • Afterlives • Adam, Eve, and Their Children • Fallen Angels
Part II: Ancestors
The Tower of Babel and Abram’s Fire Trial • Intertwined Histories: The First Kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt • Abraham and the Idols • Intertwined Histories: Jacob, Egypt, and Greece • The Wars of the Children of Jacob • Naphtali’s Visions • Intertwined Histories: Rome
Part III: Enslavement, Liberation, Wandering
The Life of Moses • The Death of Aaron • The Death of Moses • Korah’s Dissent • The Deadly Temptation
Part IV: Warriors and Prophets
Intertwined Histories: Egypt and Greece • The Tale of Kenaz • Intertwined Histories: The Time of the Judges • Micah’s Shrine and the War with Benjamin • The Ten Lost Tribes: The Tale of Elhanan the Merchant
Part V: Under Babylonia and Persia
Nebuchadnezzar Sets Out to Jerusalem • The Last Babylonian Kings • Daniel, Bel, and the Serpent • The Tale of Zerubbabel • The Holy Fire • The Persecution of Jews in the Days of Ahasverus
Part VI: A Greek and Roman Age
Alexander the Great Comes to Jerusalem • Heliodorus and the Temple’s Treasury • The Translation of the Torah into Greek • The Revolt Against Antiochus • Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai’s Flight from Jerusalem • The Day the Messiah Was Born • Josephus’s Works • A Roman Sorcerer • The Destruction of Betar • Rabbi Akiba’s Laughter • The Future Patriarch and the Future Emperor
Part VII: Riddles and Wit
The Son Who Earned His Father’s Inheritance • Lies and Truths • Three Jumps • The Man Who (Almost) Lost His Clothes • Whose Figs? • A Useful Purchase • The Broken Mortar • The Perceptive Half-Blind Man • Mockery and Revenge • The Interpreter of Dreams • Rabbi Joshua Outsmarted
Part VIII: Persecution and Woe
The Deaths of the Ten Sages • The Massacres of the First Crusade • The Blood Libel in Blois
Part IX: The End Times
The Portents of the Redemption • The Final Reckoning
Suggestions for Further Reading
About the Translator