Presenting the captivating world of rabbinic storytelling, it reveals facets of the Jewish experience and tradition that would otherwise have remained unknown and examines the surprisingly deep connection between the values of classical Judaism and the art of imaginative narrative writing. Virtually all the narratives appear here in English for the first time. Sometimes pious, sometimes playful, and sometimes almost scandalous, they are each accompanied by an introduction and notes. The selections are framed by essays by David Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky that examine the various moods and forms in which the rabbinic imagination found expression and explore the impact that this unique form of narrative has had on modern fiction. The translations are by Norman Bronznick, Yaakov Elman, Michal Govrin, Arthur Green, Martha Himmelfarb, Ivan Marcus, Mark Jay Mirsky, Joel Rosenberg, David Ruderman, Raymond Scheindlin, David Stern, and Avi Weinstein.Yale Judaica Series

    He serves up the worst that American suburban "culture" has to offer. Junior is a simpleminded oaf who hates to leave the safety of his mother's house. When he does venture out, he ends up with a degenerate for a landlord (Junior finds his stash of Animal Lust magazine) and an unscrupulous conman as a housemate--an untoward experience which sends him quickly back to mom. But not all of Bagge's characters are geeks. Chet and Bunny Leeway, a quick, youngish couple living inexplicably in alienatingly bland suburbia, star in the most amusing stories in this collection. Their encounters with neighbors who are bigoted and proud of it, with radical castrating feminists and conniving artists and with their own engagingly neurotic personalities exemplify Bagge's ability to convey a sincere and subtle portrait of a happily modern relationship. Bagge's drawing is a masterpiece of cartoony realism--Hanna-Barbera meets the Ash Can Schoolwow, good line! --wildly caricatured with sharp detail and a wonderful range of expression.