Scenes of Jewish Life in Alsace

Jewish Tales from the French Countryside

The author of these charming stories grew up in a Yiddish-speaking village in 1830s France. His tales evoke the people and folkways of a rural Jewish world that was vanishing quickly.

In these stories, you'll meet Salomon, Yedele and their loved ones. You'll share their joys, losses, courtships and holiday celebrations. You'll also meet traditional Alsatian storytellers who recount Yiddish folk tales of ghosts and sorcery, and of "wonder rabbis" who could banish demons and lift curses.

This new English translation restores the Yiddishisms and Jewish wording that the author deleted in the 1850s when reworking the stories for a largely Gentile audience. This edition also adds illustrations by Alphonse Lévy, a 19th-century Alsatian Jewish artist whose drawings and etchings mesh perfectly with the tales.