Hebrew Folktale in Premodern Morality Literature

Vered Tohar is a researcher, author, editor, and poet with special interests in the diachronic aspects and reception of Hebrew literature and folktales. She is a faculty member in the Department of Literature of the Jewish People at Bar-Ilan University. She has previously published works in the fields of Jewish studies, Jewish folklore, the Hebrew book, Hebrew literature, and Hebrew literature for children and youth.

Vered Tohar has written a rich and highly innovative book, defining and translating into English a corpus of Hebrew folktales found in musar (ethical) Hebrew literature.She connects these texts to central modes of thought and conduct in Jewish life, illuminating them for an international community of scholars." - Chanita Goodblatt, professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev"This pioneering and fascinating book is a must for both scholars and students of Jewish studies and folklore. The Hebrew Folktale in Premodern Morality Literature provides a unique point of entry to a significant selection of tales embedded in printed musar books, which has never before been addressed by scholars as a distinct corpus. In her book, Vered Tohar explores the features and functions of these tales as musar texts targeted to convey to their readers familiar and traditional matters in the most appealing way to reaffirm a cultural ethos. Based on a solid methodology—genre theories, comparative studies of motifs, and semiotic interpretations of tropes and symbols, as well as on analytical readings of the tales—Tohar arrives at a surprising and unexpected hypothesis as to processes and techniques of utilizing them in both spheres of folklore and ethic literature." - Rella Kushelevsky, professor emerita, Bar-Ilan University