Leonard Nimoy, Eli Wallach, Carol Kane and Sholem Aleichem are all waiting to tell you a Jewish story. And you only have to go as far as your computer to hear them. In honor of Jewish Book Month, we’re going to listen to the very best storytellers as they tell us a tale or two, online.
Sholem Aleichem is best known for his characters like Tevye the Milkman, Yente the Matchmaker and the other citizens of Anatevka. Thanks to the Internet, you can listen to Sholem Aleichem himself read from his story “Ven Ikh Bin Rotshild” (“If I Were Rothschild — a Rich Man”) which he recorded late in his life. It’s at www.yv.org/#sholom-aleichem And if your Yiddish isn’t quite up to scratch, you can read the same story (and a few others) in English at www.sholom-aleichem.org/fsaws/Translantions/ Translantionsmain.htm
If you want to hear some more familiar voices, head over to Jewish Short Stories from Eastern Europe and Beyond. There are more than 30 classic and contemporary short stories at this site read by some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Wallach reads “Gimpel the Fool” by I.B. Singer. Lauren Bacall reads Isaiah Spiegel’s “A Ghetto Dog.” I.L. Peretz’s “The Golem” is read by Kane. And who better to narrate Abraham Reisen’s “Matza for the Rich” than the wonderful Fyvush Finkel? Workers in a bakery are thrown into an uproar when they prepare to bake a demanding rich lady’s matzah order. They fantasize about how generous a tip she’ll leave, if she leaves one at all. I highly recommend this site, www.kcrw.org/b/jss.html
Fans of the TV show “Law and Order” will remember the gruff but wonderful Manhattan District Attorney Adam Schiff. Actor Steven Hill now takes his turn as storyteller with the three tales “Through the Moonlit Night,” “The True Patron” and “The Rabbi’s Dilemma” at http://jewishworldreview.com/0798/audio.html
Of course, you don’t have to be a movie star to tell a Jewish story. Storytelling plays a huge part in the rabbinic tradition. At the Reb Shlomo Web site — www.rebshlomo.org/story — you can read the marvelous stories of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. In “Moishele, the Water Carrier,” Carlebach tells of a poor man who found riches, lost them all and then in his desperation, regained his faith. For more Chassidic stories, check out the large selection by Sterna Citron at www.613.org/hasid.html And children can listen to “Chayim the Storyteller” as he presents a different Jewish tale for each week of the year at www.tzivos-hashem.org/storytime/storytime.html
There are many excellent Jewish storytellers who visit schools and community centers throughout the year. The best way to find their Webs sites is to go to a searchengine like Google — www.google.com — and type in “Jewish storyteller.” One of the names that will come up most often will be Peninnah Schram, founding director of the Jewish Storytelling Center in New York and an associate professor of speech and drama at Stern College at Yeshiva University. In “The Artist’s Search,” Schram tells us of a restless man who set out to find the most beautiful scene to paint in the world. Is it a couple in love? A man who has discovered peace? The look of faith? Or is the answer much closer to home? Excerpts from her CD recorded with Gerard Edery, “The Minstrel and the Storyteller,” are at www.jewishmusic.com/stpsc10d.htm
I’ll leave it to Schram to explain why she loves telling her stories, especially to children. She does so in a 1998 interview with the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, at www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/ 980227/strytell.shtml (If the article doesn’t come up right away, go to the News’ search engine and type in “Schram.” It’s the first article.)
“A story told can instill a sense of wonder in a child. If we don’t tell them stories, we rob them of the chance for a healthy psychology and of really being connected to the Jewish values and traditions…It’s the most important gift we can give a child.”