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taken up into heaven'', by Jewish Mythology , is generally the sacred and traditional narratives that help explain and symbolize the Jewish religion, while ''Jewish folklore'' is composed of the folk tales and Legend s that existed in the general Jewish culture. There is very little early Folklore distinct from the Aggadah literature. However, mythology and folklore has survived and expanded among the Jewish people in all eras of its history. ISSUES SURROUNDING THE TERM "MYTH" Popular versus academic terminology For many people, the term "myth" implies falsehood.Armstrong, p. 7; Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 1 Early Christian writers used the word "myth" to mean "falsehood", and the word entered popular English usage with this meaning.Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', pp. 162; Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams and Mysteries'', pp. 23. Thus, some modern scholars use the word "myth" with an implication of falsehood.For example, the classicist Robert Graves has defined mythology as "whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student's experience that he cannot believe them to be true" (Graves 1968, p. v.); and scholars who support the Jesus Myth Hypothesis use the word "myth" precisely to imply falsehood. However, according to historian Mircea Eliade , since the beginning of the twentieth century, Western scholars have been using the word "myth" in a way different from its popular usage: "For the past fifty years at least, Western scholars have approached the study of myth from a viewpoint markedly different from, let us say, that of the nineteenth century. Unlike their predecessors, who treated myth in the usual meaning of the word, that is, as 'fable,' 'invention,' 'fiction,' they have accepted it as it was understood in the archaic societies, where, on the contrary, 'myth' means a 'true story' and, beyond that, a story that is a most precious possession because it is sacred, exemplary, significant."Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 1 Modern scholars increasingly use "myth" not to mean "false story" but, rather, to mean "traditional story" or "sacred story". Therefore, when discussing "mythology", one must distinguish between the popular meaning of the word "myth" and the meanings that are commonly used in academia. Issues of academic terminology Scholars in different academic disciplines use the word "myth" in different ways. In its broadest academic sense, the word "myth" simply means a traditional story. However, for many scholars, a story must be sacred to qualify as a "myth". Professional Folklorists define "myth" even more restrictively: by the classic folkloric definition, myths are "tales believed as true, usually sacred, set in the distant past or other worlds or parts of the world, and with extra-human, inhuman, or heroic characters". [http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~mmagouli/defmyth.htm#DEFINING%20MYTH If "myth", as defined by folklorists, must be both sacred and "believed as true", then the clearest examples of Jewish mythology come from the Hebrew Bible . However, note that the term "mythology" does not encompass all of the Hebrew Bible. Because a myth is a traditional ''story'', non-narrative scriptures or portions of scripture (e.g., proverbs, theological writings) are not themselves "myths". Note also that the term "myth" may not even encompass all Biblical ''stories'', depending on how strictly one defines the word "myth". Scholars in religious studies often define "myths" as stories that center around divine characters. This definition would actually exclude much of the Bible, which may ''involve'' God but often does not feature him as the main character.Segal, p. 5 Some folklorists define "myths" as only those stories that deal with the creation of the world and natural phenomena.Zong In-SobSegal, p. 5 By this definition, "only the two creation stories (Genesis 1 and 2), the Garden of Eden story (Genesis 3), and the Noah story (Genesis 6-9) would thereby qualify as myths. All the other stories would instead constitute either legends or folk tales."Segal, p. 5 IN THE TANAKH (1832-1883), a literal representation of Genesis 1:1 ("Let there be light").]] The foundational myths of the . The twelve tribes can trace their lineage back to Adam and Eve. IN THE TALMUD The people's tendency to adopt the neighboring pagan myths, denounced as it had been by the Jewish prophets, returned with force during the Talmud ic period, probably under the influence of the Babylonian and Persian populations. The "Shedim", or Demon s, became ubiquitous to the populace of the ordinary Jews. The classical Rabbi themselves were at times not free from sharing in the popular beliefs. Thus, while there is a whole catalog of prognostications by means of Dreams in Ber. 55 et seq., and Rabbi Johanan claimed that those dreams are true which come in the morning or are dreamed about us by others, or are repeated (Ber. 56b), Rabbi Meïr declares that dreams help not and injure not (Gittin 52a, and parallels). In the Talmud (חולין נט ע"ב - ע"ב) exists a discussion about a giant deer and a giant Lion which are both originated in a mythical forest called " Dvei Ilai ". The deer is called "Keresh". The lion is said to be such as big that there is space of 9 feet between his lobs of his lung. The Roman Caesar once asked a Rabbi to show him this lion, since every lion can be killed, but the Rabbi refused and pointed out that this is not a normal lion. The Roman Caesar insisted, so the Rabbi called for the lion of "Dvei Ilai". He roared once from a far distance and all constructions and the city walls of Rome tumbled down. Then he came nearer - but still in a far distance - and roared again and the teeth of all Roman men fall out. The authorities of the Talmud seem to be particularly influenced by popular conception in the direction of Folk Medicine . A belief in the Evil Eye was also prevalent in Talmudic times, and occasionally omens are taken seriously, though in some cases recognized as being merely popular beliefs. Thus, while it is declared to be unlucky to do things twice, as eating, drinking, or washing (Pesachim 109b), Rabbi Dunai recognized that this was an old tradition (ib. 110b). A remarkable custom mentioned in the Talmud is that of planting trees when children are born and intertwining them to form the huppah when they marry (Gittin 57a). Yet this idea may be originally Persian; it is found also in India (W. Crookes, in "Folk-Lore," vii.) It may be possible to distinguish in the haggadic legends of Biblical character those portions that probably formed part of the original accounts from those that have been developed by the exegetic principles of the Haggadists . In the later Haggadah there are some elements probably derived from Indian and Greek fables (see Fable ). IN POST-TALMUDIC TIMES After the Dispersion Of The Jews , the Jewish people spread among the peoples of the earth and were influenced by other cultures. Mythographers have been studying how the Jewush narratives began to borrow or adapt stories and ideas from cultures. Mythology was naturally acquired and adapted to each time and place. A variation in custom is sometimes found between one set of Jews and another which enables the inquirer to determine the origin of them. Thus, English Jews sometimes show a disinclination to sit down with thirteen at a table, probably copied from their Christian neighbors who connect the superstition with the Last Supper of Jesus; whereas Russian Jews consider thirteen as a particularly lucky number, as it is the gematria of "echad" (one), the last and most important word of the Shema. (1) + khet (8) + daled (4) = 13 On the other hand, many stories are specifically Jewish in nature and origination. For example, the belief that the resurrection of the dead will take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat , and that, therefore, the corpse must have a three-pronged fork to tunnel his way to Jerusalem if buried out of the Holy Land, is a specifically Jewish corollary to their narratives of an after-life, and a veneration of Jerusalem. IN ANCIENT FOLKTALES Jewish Folktales were those stories usually containing incidents of a superhuman character, spread among the folk either by traditions from their elders or by communication from strangers. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages (dwarfs, giants, fairies, ghosts, etc.), by the sudden transformation of men into beasts and vice versa, or by other unnatural incidents (flying horses, a hundred years' sleep, and the like). Of a similar kind are the drolls of the nursery, generally consisting of a number of simple "sells." A number of Haggadic Stories bear folktale characteristics, especially those relating to Og , King of Bashan, which have the same exaggerations as have the "Lügenmärchen" of modern German folktales. There are signs that a certain number of fables were adopted by the Rabbis either from Greek or, indirectly, from Indian sources. IN THE MIDDLE AGES There is considerable evidence of Jewish people helping the spread of Eastern folk-tales in Europe. Besides these tales from foreign sources, Jews either collected or composed others which were told throughout the European ghettos, and were collected in Yiddish in the "Maasebücher." Numbers of the folktales contained in these collections were also published separately (see the earlier ones given by Steinschneider in "Cat. Bodl." Nos. 3869-3942). It is, however, difficult to call many of them folktales in the sense given above, since nothing fairy-like or supernormal occurs in them. LEGENDS '' by Mikolas Ales (1899).]] There are a few definitely Jewish legends of the Middle Ages which partake of the character of folktales, such as those of the Jewish pope (see Andreas) and of the Golem , or that relating to the wall of the Rashi chapel, which moved backward in order to save the life of a poor woman who was in danger of being crushed by a passing car in the narrow way. Several of these legends were collected by Tendlau ("Sagen und Legenden der Jüdischen Vorzeit"). In the late 1800s many folk-tales were gathered among Jews or published from Hebrew manuscripts by Israel Lévi in "Revue des Etudes Juives," in "Revue des Traditions Populaires," and in "Melusine "; by M. Gaster in "Folk-Lore" and in the reports of Montefiore College; and by M. Grunwald in "Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde" (see Index to part vi., s.v. "Erählungen"); by L. Wiener in the same periodical; and by F. S. Krauss in "Urquell," both series. Altogether some sixty or seventy folk-tales have been found among Jews of the present day; but in scarcely a single case is there anything specifically Jewish about the stories, while in most cases they can be traced back to folk-tales current among the surrounding peoples. Thus the story of "Kunz and His Shepherd" (Grunwald, "Mitteilungen," ii. 1) occurs in English as "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury"; and "The Magician's Pupil" (No. 4 of Wiener, in "Mitteilungen," x. 103) is also found widely spread. The well-known story of the "Language of Birds," which has been studied by Frazer ("Archeological Review," iii., iv.; comp. "Urquell," v. 266), is given in "Mitteilungen," i. 77. No. 4 in the collection of Wiener is the wide-spread folk-tale of "The Giant's Daughter," which some have traced back to the legend of Medea. Two of the stories collected by Grunwald, No. 13, "The Birds of Ibycus," and No. 14, "The Ring of Polycrates," appear to be traceable to classical sources; while his No. 4 gives the well-known episode of the "Thankful Beasts," which Benfey traced across Europe through India ("Kleine Schriften," i.). Even in the tales having a comic termination and known to the folk-lorists as drolls, there are no signs of Jewish originality. The first of the stories collected by Wiener is the well-known "Man in the Sack," who gets out of his difficulties by telling passers-by that he has been unwillingly condemned to marry a princess (see Jacobs, "Indian Fairy Tales"). COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY Jewish mythology contains similarities to myths of other cultures, and it may have absorbed elements from other ancient Near Eastern mythologies. Judaism has also reacted against these mythologies, seeking to purge its own mythology of "pagan" elements. In addition, elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian and Islamic mythology, as well as Western culture in general. Christian Mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament, especially sharing the stories that speak of creation of the earth and people and the belief in one God as heavenly father. Islamic Mythology also came after Jewish, and shares some of the same stories; for instance, a creation account spaced out over six periods, the legend of Abraham, and stories of Moses and the Israelites. Contrasts with pagan mythology '', 13th century drawing by a Jew in France.]] The ancient Hebrews often participated in the Pagan Practices of their Near Eastern neighbors, worshiping other gods alongside their own god, Yahweh .Armstrong, p. 93; Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 136 For instance, during Ezekiel 's time, Hebrew women joined in the worship of Tammuz , a Babylonian fertility god.Ezekiel 8:14 These pagan religions were forms of nature worship: their deities were personifications of natural phenomena like storms and fertility.Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 141 Because of its nature worship, Eliade argues, Near Eastern paganism expressed itself in "rich and dramatic mythologies" featuring "strong and dynamic gods" and "orgiastic divinities".Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 141 The Biblical prophets, including Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, had a concept of the divine that differed significantly from that of the nature religions. According to Jewish mythology, their lives were full of Miracle s, signs, and visions from Yahweh that kept Jewish mythology alive, growing, and distinct from the pagan mythologies of its neighbors. Instead of seeing Yahweh as their own tribal god, one god among others, these prophets saw Him as the one God of the entire universe.Armstrong, p. 93 The prophets condemned Hebrew participation in nature worship, and they refused to completely identify the divine with natural forces.Armstrong, p. 93 In so doing, they set the stage for a new kind of mythology — a mythology featuring a single God (Yahweh) who exists beyond the natural world.Armstrong, pp. 95-96; Irwin, pp. 323-34 Unlike Tammuz, who dies and revives along with the vegetation,Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 140 the God of the Hebrew prophets is beyond natureIrwin, p. 233 and, therefore, isn't bound by the natural rhythms: "Where the Babylonian gods were engaged in an ongoing battle against the forces of chaos, and needed the rituals of the New Year festival to restore their energies, Yahweh can simply rest on the seventh day, his work complete."Armstrong, p. 96; see also Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 143 Through the prophets' influence, Jewish mythology increasingly portrayed God as aloof from nature and acting independently of natural forces.Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', pp. 141-42; Irwin, p. 230, 233 On one hand, this produced a mythology that was, in a sense, more complex. Instead of eternally repeating a seasonal cycle of acts, Yahweh stood outside nature and intervened in it, producing new, historically unprecedented events: "That was Theophany of a new type, hitherto unknown—''the intervention of Jahveh in history''. It was therefore something irreversible and unrepeatable. The Fall Of Jerusalem does not repeat the fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem presents a new historic theophany, another 'wrath' of Jahveh. {Link without Title} Jahveh stands out from the world of abstractions, of symbols and generalities; he acts in history and enters into relations with actual historical beings."Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 152-53 On the other hand, this transcendent God was absolutely unique and hard for humans to relate to.Irwin, p. 233; Armstrong, p. 82-83, 93-94 Thus, the myths surrounding Him were, in a sense, less complex: they did not involve the acts of multiple, anthropomorphic gods.Armstrong, p. 93 In this sense, "Jahveh is surrounded by no multiple and varied myths", and did not share in the "rich and dramatic mythologies" of his pagan counterparts.Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 141 The Hebrew prophets had to struggle against the nature gods' popularity, and Jewish mythology reflects this struggle.Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 142; Armstrong, p. 94 In fact, some Jewish myths may have been consciously designed to reflect the conflict between paganism and a new uncompromising interprets the creation myth of Genesis 1 "as a poised, calm polemic against the old belligerent cosmogonies", particularly the Babylonian cosmogonic myth.Armstrong, p. 95 The Babylonian '' Enuma Elish '' describes the god Marduk earning kingship over the other gods, battling the monster Tiamat , and creating the world from her corpse. In contrast, Armstrong argues, in the Genesis account (and in the book of Isaiah that describe Yahweh's victory over the sea-monster Leviathan ), "the sun, moon, stars, sky and earth are not gods in their own right, hostile to Yahweh. They are subservient to him, and created for a purely practical end. The sea-monster is no Tiamat, but is God's creature and does his bidding."Armstrong, p. 96 Connections with pagan mythology Some Comparative Mythologists think Jewish mythology absorbed elements from pagan mythology. According to these scholars, even while resisting pagan ''worship'', the Jews willingly absorbed elements of pagan ''mythology''.Armstrong, p. 96; McGinn, p. 23-24 Whether or not Judaism actually absorbed ideas from paganism, Jewish myths contain similarities to myths of other cultures. The mythological flood '' by The Hebrew story of builds a boat and puts animals inside, along with his family; after the flood, he sends a dove, then a swallow, then a raven to check whether the waters have subsided; and after exiting the boat, Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell "the sweet savour" and repent their choice to send the flood. Another similar myth is the Hindu story of takes the form of a fish and warns the ancestor Manu about a coming flood. He tells Manu to put all the creatures of the earth into a boat. Unlike the Biblical and Mesopotamian floods, however, this flood is not a unique event brought on by a divine choice; instead, it's one of the destructions and recreations of the universe that happen at regular intervals in Hindu Mythology . See Also: Biblical flood Deluge (mythology) The "combat myth" ,'' 1865 by Gustave Doré . This Sea Monster was mentioned 6 times in the Hebrew Bible .]] Many of the Hebrews' pagan neighbors had a "combat myth" about the good god battling the demon of chaos; one example of this Mytheme is the Bablyonian '' Enuma Elish ''.McGinn, p. 23 According to historian Bernard McGinn, the combat myth's imagery influenced Jewish mythology. The myth of Yahweh's triumph over Leviathan , a symbol of chaos, has the form of a combat myth.McGinn, p. 24 In addition, McGinn thinks the Hebrews applied the "combat myth" motif to the relationship between God and Satan: originally a deputy in God's court, assigned to act as mankind's "accuser" (''satan'' means "to oppose"), Satan evolved into a being with "an apparently independent realm of operation as a source of evil" — no longer God's deputy but his opponent in a cosmic struggle.McGinn, p. 23-25 Even the Exodus story shows "combat myth" influence. McGinn believes the " Song Of The Sea ", which the Hebrews sang after seeing God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea , includes "motifs and language from the combat myth used to emphasize the importance of the foundational event in Israel's religious identity: the crossing of the Red Sea and deliverance from the Pharaoh."McGinn, p. 24 Likewise, Armstrong notes the similarity between pagan myths in which gods "split the sea in half when they created the world" and the myth of the Exodus from Egypt, in which Moses splits the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea) — "though what is being brought into being in the Exodus myth is not a cosmos but a people".Armstrong, p. 96 Other connections with non-Jewish mythology Also possibly derived from pagan mythology is the Old Testament story of the "Watchers" (Genesis 6:1-4), heavenly beings who descend to earth, intermarry with humans, and produce the ''nephilim'', "the heroes of old, men of renown". Jewish tradition regards the Watchers as wicked angels.McGinn, p. 25, but the myth may be a fragment of pagan mythology about gods interbreeding with humans to produce heroes.footnote on Genesis 6:1-4 in ''The New American Bible'', St Joseph Edition Joseph Campbell notes that the Eden narrative's forbidden tree is an example of a motif "very popular in fairy tales, known to folklore students as the One Forbidden Thing ".Campbell, p. 109 (For another example of the One Forbidden Thing, see the Russian fairy tale Bash Chelik , in which the hero is forbidden to open a certain door but he does anyway, thereby releasing the villain.) Perception of time Jewish mythology and linear time According to the Near Eastern specialist William A. Irwin , the Hebrew Bible presents history as "a comprehensive reality" raised "to the highest importance".Irwin, p. 321 Time is linear in Jewish mythology, and Jewish scripture traces ancestors and genealogies. Other traditional cultures limited mythical events to the beginning of time, and saw important historical events as repetitions of those mythical events.Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 190; Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', pp. 11-12 In contrast, the important events in Jewish mythology are not limited to a far-off primordial age: Jewish myths and legends stretch "out of the far past into an eternal future".Irwin, p. 321 This doesn't mean that ''all'' historical events have significance in Judaism;Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 153 however, in Jewish mythology, significant events happen throughout history, and they are not merely repetitions of each other; each significant event is a new act of God: "The fall of Samaria actually did occur in history {Link without Title} It was therefore something irreversible and unrepeatable. The fall of Jerusalem does not repeat the fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem presents a new historic theophany."Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 152 By portraying time as a linear progression of events, rather than an eternal repetition, Jewish mythology suggested the possibility for progress.Irwin, p. 323 This view of history was very innovative for the times. Inherited by Christianity, it has deeply influenced Western philosophy and culture. Even supposedly secular or political Western movements have worked within the world-view of progress and linear history inherited from Judaism.Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 69; Campbell, p. 201 Because of this legacy, the religious historian Mircea Eliade argues that "Judaeo-Christianity makes an innovation of the first importance" in mythology.Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 64 Possibility of Zoroastrian influence The mythologist Joseph Campbell believes the Judeo-Christian idea of linear, progressive history originated with the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism . In the mythologies of India and the Far East, "the world was not to be reformed, but only known, revered, and its laws obeyed".Campbell, p. 191 In contrast, in Zoroastrianism, the current world is "corrupt {Link without Title} and to be reformed by human action".Campbell, p. 191 According to Campbell, this "progressive view of cosmic history"Campbell, p. 192 "can be heard echoed and re-echoed, in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaean, Arabic, and every tongue of the West".Campbell, p. 190 R. C. Zaehner, a professor of Eastern religions, argues for Zoroastrianism's direct influence on Jewish eschatological myths, especially the resurrection of the dead with rewards and punishments.Zaehner, p. 58 AGGADAH AND FOLKLORE COMPILATIONS
RELATED TO SCIENCE FICTION In the past century to modern day, there have been many retellings of Jewish myths (mostly from the Torah ). They have mostly been in the regions of science-fiction; as Isaac Asimov noted in his introduction to More Wandering Stars : :"...Can science fiction be part of Jewish culture? From fantasy stories we know?/ And as I think of it, it begins to seem to me that it is and we do know. And the source? From where else? From the Hebrew source for everything-- From the Bible. We have but to look through the Bible to see for ourselves." - Isaac Asimov. He goes on to show parallels between Biblical stories and modern science-fiction:
The Hugo Awards , one of the highest distinctions for a science-fiction writer, have plenty of directly Biblical stories on their lists, for instance:
The above are a few examples of the many ways Jewish mythology has been retold, borrowed and adapted for modern readers. COMIC BOOK ADAPTATIONS In comic book circles it is accepted that the two Jewish creators of the Superman comic, which was essentially the beginning of superhero comics and comic books, based their idea in part on the story of the Golem Of Prague . SEE ALSO REFERENCES Notes Sources
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