Jewish Fairy tales part 2
Sleep of One Hundred Years:
Wrecked with grief at the destruction of Jerusalem, the Rabbi Onias weeps on a hill overlooking a city and falls into a deep sleep of one hundred years. Tales like this confuse me, from a scientific standpoint. How could anyone survive a sleep that long? This guy is outside, exposed to the elements, with no food or water in the DESERT. How is he being kept alive?
Then the story becomes sad. Onias awakens after one hundred years of counting sheep and discovers that Jerusalem has been rebuilt. By chance he finds his grandson is now the Rabbi of the city and tries to live with him for a while, but everything is strange and foreign. So then he goes back to the spot where he slept forever and goes to sleep AGAIN - this time really forever. This story is kind of sad, but I appreciate that God preserved Onias to see the glory of Jerusalem again.
King for Three Days:
This starts off with Crusaders proclaiming they have permission from God to exterminate all the Jews. So that’s what they do.
Then, because the leader of this crusade, Godfrey, is twisted and strange, he decides to try and invoke a blessing from the famous Rabbi Rashi. Rashi, being a prophet and having better things to do than trifle with this sadist, tells him basically, “No blessing of mine will alter God’s plan for you.” Then he tells Godfrey that he’ll take over Jersusalem and reign as King, but only for three days. Being a jerk, Godfrey tells the Rabbi that if his prophecy is false in any way, he’ll destroy him (which I imagine he’ll do eventually because he’s Jewish). The Rabbi’s prophecy comes true, Godfrey is a broken, tired man, and the story just kind of cuts off there.
What I really liked about this tale was the end and how it the cities where Rashi and Godfrey lived and reigned remain today. For example, the city of Worms is by the Rhine river, and the synagogue near the river is where Rashi is reputed to have studied. I really like it when old tales correlate to modern day places.
The synagogue in Worms where Rashi is rumored to have studied.
The Fairy Frog:
The Jewish peoples are very gifted with the Sight for prophecy. A father calls his son, Hanina, to his death-bed and tells his son to purchase whatever is first offered to him at the market on the eve of the festival at Passover no matter what price because it will bring him good fortune. Hanina, being a good son, purchases the first thing that’s offered to him and it’s a frog that ends up eating everything in the house. Hanina’s wife breaks down and starts crying and the frog, being the size of a man at this point, tells her to make a wish. Naturally, because the frog has eaten all the food, she wishes for food. Then he tells Hanina to make a wish and Hanina states that he wishes to be schooled in the lore of men. He does this by swallowing strips of paper that the frog has written stories and lore on. I wish I could learn things just be swallowing pages from my textbook! Can you imagine? Oh, how much simpler school would be…
Plot twist! The frog is actually the fairy son of Adam, which is why he’s able to grant wishes. Who would have thought?
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