Blog Entry#10

Although many other fairy tales which we have read possessed religious undertones, none so much as the Jewish ones. Obviously, being a religion as well as a culture this is not surprisingly. Where European fairy tales focus on human protagonists, African on animals, the Jewish fairy tales focus on the Rabbi.

The tales present a moral to be learned -- as most fairy tales do. They underline the Jewish wit and intelligence. Most minorities, in their folk and fairy tales, tend to poke fun at the majorities such as in some of the stories where the priests are outwitted by the Jewish Rabbi. Or like in the story where the young man has to speak in sign language to the priest and although it is misinterpretation on both sides, it is the bravery and sense (the idea that if they do not at least try, they still will all die), that saves them all.

They also, as religious tales, incorporate motifs of faith and God, and draw on the divine power, as in the story as the Rabbi Adam who defeats the sorcerer with not only his intelligence, but also his own power which has been given to him from God and his trust that he will be able to overcome this evil with His help.