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A peasant was transporting a large cart of hay. He had to pass through a low gateway, but the cart couldn’t pass under it. People advised the peasant to wear glasses with magnifying lenses, so that…
Contributor:
S. Beilin
Places:
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
(Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Date:
Second half of the 19th century
Categories:
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I have a story here to tell
To all my children—you as well.
Hush, dear friends, be very still—
Hear my story, if you will.
There’s a land that’s quite remote,
Beyond the reach of train or boat;
Even…
Contributor:
Mani Leib, El Lissitzky
Places:
(Russia, Russia)
Date:
1918
Subjects:
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It was a bright and frosty winter night, moon and stars in the sky, snow, bedded snow, in the fields, and no sound from the paths, no horse and sleigh, no bell from the way, just field and peace…
Contributor:
Der Nister
Places:
(Kyiv, Ukraine)
Date:
1913
Subjects:
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This tale is very different from the other stories and more interesting. [ . . . ]
A melámmed was in his home, and he was so starved that his belly…
Contributor:
A. Litvin, Sonya the Wise Woman (Sonya Naimark)
Places:
Date:
1917
Subjects:
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Three Idlers [finish chanting]:
Why, oh why,
Did the soul descend
From the highest height
To the deepest end?
The greatest fall
Contains the upward flight.
[A long pause. All three sit motionless…
Contributor:
S. An-ski
Places:
Date:
1913–1917
Subjects:
Categories:
Public Access
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“The story began in the year . . .”
But he forgot which year it was, so you must make do without it.
“It happened towards the end of Elul, when people say slikhes, penitential prayers. A town is a…
Contributor:
Y. L. Peretz
Places:
Warsaw, Russian Empire
(Warsaw, Poland)
Date:
1899
Subjects:
Categories:
Public Access
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Humor—is a Jewish thing. What Jew doesn’t enjoy listening to a nice story, parable, or witticism? When is a Jew indisposed to joking around? Not due to great luxury, God forbid, but on the contrary…
Contributor:
Sholem Aleichem
Places:
Odessa, Russian Empire
(Odesa, Ukraine)
Date:
1892
Subjects:
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Now in that same shtetl there lived a youth named Shimen, but he was nicknamed Simkhe (joy, celebration) and Plakhte (coarse cloth) because he was barefoot and almost naked and that was all he wore…
Contributor:
Yankev Morgenshtern
Places:
Lodz, Russian Empire
(Lodz, Poland)
Date:
1870s or 1880s
Subjects:
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Anyone familiar with our Russian Poland knows what Jews mean by a small shtetl, a little town.
A small shtetl has a few small cabins, and a fair every other Sunday. The Jews deal in liquor, grain…
Contributor:
Israel Aksenfeld
Places:
Date:
1861
Subjects:
Categories:
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Great men were once able to perform great miracles.
When the ghetto of Prague was under attack and marauders wanted to rape the women, roast the children, and murder everyone, when it seemed that all…
Contributor:
Y. L. Peretz
Places:
Warsaw, Russian Empire
(Warsaw, Poland)
Date:
1893