Joseph PataiJoseph Patai was a Hungarian Jewish poet, author, translator, editor, lecturer, and Zionist leader. For close to four decades (until his aliyah to Palestine in 1939) he was the foremost exponent, representative, and propagator of Jewish culture in Hungary. His monthly, Multés Jövo (Past and Future), was recognized as the most beautifully produced Jewish periodical in Europe and the most influential factor in Jewish cultural life in Hungary. His translations into Hungarian of the Hebrew poets of all ages (published in five volumes) were acclaimed as a masterly contribution t oHungarian poetry. Under his chairmanship the Pro Palestine Association of Hungarian Jews became the center in Hungary of support for the economic, social, and cultural development of the Yishuv. His biography of Theodor Herzl the first full-size study of the founder of Zionism, who was born and grew up in Budapest. His Hasidic stories, written in Hungarian and presented in this volume in an English translation, are a rare poetic re-creation of a world that is no more.Raphael PataiRaphael Patai, the son of Joseph Patai, was born and grew up in Budapest. An internationally known anthropologist, biblical scholar, and cultural historian, he is the author of more than thirty books, which were translated into ten languages and widely acclaimed for their originality. They include Israel Between East and West, Hebrew Myths (with Robert Graves), The Hebrew Goddess, The Arab Mind, The Jewish Mind, Myth and Modern Man, Tents of Jacob, Jewish Race (with Jennifer Patai), Gates to the Old City, The Messiah Texts, On Jewish Folklore, Robert Graves and the Hebrew Myths, The Seed of Abraham, Apprentice in Budapest, Between Budapest and Jerusalem, Journeyman in Jerusalem, and The Jewish Alchemists. He lived in Jerusalem from 1933 to 1947, earned the first Ph.D. degree to be awarded by the Hebrew University of that city, founded and headed the Palestine Institute of Folklore and Ethnology, and after 1947 taught at various American universities.
