Tale
The Book of Legends
ספר האגדה
Synopsis
An anthology of what rabbinic literature has left outside the law: exegesis of biblical narratives, stories of the figures of the Bible and of the sages, parables, proverbs and popular traditions, drawn from the Mishnah, the two Talmuds and the midrashim. The Aramaic passages are translated into Hebrew, versions of the same story are brought together, and the whole is arranged by theme: Israel and the nations, God and moral conduct, relations between people, nature, healing.
Context
The two men, neighbours in the same building in Odessa, began the work in 1903 to offer pupils a selection of legends, and met every day to collect the texts. The first volume appeared in 1908 and was very successful; two others followed up to 1911, printed in tens of thousands of copies. The work was taken up again and expanded in Palestine from 1930, reissued in a single volume in 1948, then annotated by Avigdor Shinan in 2015. William Braude produced the English translation in 1992.
Who it is for
A large book to be read in pieces, in Hebrew, and in English since 1992. It helps to know that aggadah designates, in the Talmud and the midrashim, everything that is not law.
Prizes and reception
A foundational book of the new Hebrew culture, according to Bialik's biographer; translated into English, Yiddish, Russian and Japanese.