A Treasury of American-Jewish Folklore by Koppman, Steve -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Jews Among the Indians

‘Navajo Sam’ and Billy the Kid Immigrant to Indian Chief “Box-Ka-Re-Sha-Hash-Ta-Ka” Ute with a Yiddish Accent “Old Mordecai” The Magic Name of Franks Wild Man of the Frontier He Got the Grand Canyon in a Trade “Bosh-Bish-Gay-Bish-Gonsen” Powwow at Levy’s A.K.A. Señor Nogales

2 Pioneers and Trailblazers

Cohen and Isaacs and Daniel Boone Mr. Texas God-Fearing Guards Pioneer Advertiser Family Tragedy Miner Problem Dutch John’s Bulls and Bears Forty-niner Levi Strauss: Blue Gold The “Menken” Bank in the Back “Sadie” Earp—Adventure in the Blood “Get the Hell Off the Wire!” Baseball’s Forgotten Hero

3 Fighters and Freelancers

No Loyalty Oath Jewish Paul Revere Belle of Philadelphia The Truth about Haym Salomon Gracious Seixas At War with the Navy John Brown’s Bondi Chaplain without Leave No Furlough Lincoln’s Corn Doctor Order Number 11 ‘Pass Over’ Story “A Regular Fronthall” Israelites with Egyptian Hearts? All He Could Fit on His Chest Slinger the Slugger Sensationalism Sells

4 Rebels and Eccentrics

“Rabbi” Monis Buried Standing Up Levi Solomon’s Women Noah’s Hark Difficult Conversion Emperor Norton The Stingiest Man in San Francisco Holy Moses Divine Sarah Bathing in Milk—Naughty Anna Held He Made the Stars Levy’s Gold

5 Dwelling in Darkness: The Early American-Jewish Community

Mordecai Moses Mordecai: The Tide of Intermarriage Jewish in New Orleans Holy Roley Rebecca Gratz’s Sunday School Finally, a Real Rabbi An Anti-Semitic Incident Pistol-Packing Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise: Albany and Beyond The First Woman Rabbi?

6 The Joys of Peddling

The Pack Pretty Sally Solomons Hyman Lazarus and the Steamboat Lost Language Sorry Peddling in California Slave to Servant That’s Business

7 Learning the Ropes: Greenhorns and Their Advisers

America The Presser Abadiah ben Charlie No Sin Counting Streetcars Modern Wonders Escalators A Golden Land A Wonderful Place Coney Island Even Keel Don’t Fix the Country Fifth Avenue Learning English No Headway Give Me Your Tired Boobelah

8 East Side Stories: Life in the New Ghetto

Furnishings Hooking a Boarder Fear Advice from Your Banker Lincoln, Bakunin, and de Hirsch Jewish Asthma Yom Kippur Balls Blind Justice Romance at the Settlement Upstairs Advertising A Good Question Unto You, Peace The Schnorrer

9 Greeting the Mishpacha: Uptown vs. Downtown, Reform vs. Orthodox

Bridging the Gap Bad Dreams The Tzimmes Revolt No, Thanks Marshall Law “As Rich as Jacob Schiff” Richman and the Pushcart Peddlers How Many Synagogues The Treifa Jollification Chief Rabbis Emil Hirsch: Closed on Shabbes An Orthodox Joke Forced to Close S. S. Wise—Truth Bravely Uttered

10 Milk and Money: Getting By in Business

Promise You’ll be Rich Lately Imagine Salt Odds Joseph Jacobs It’s a Living A Good Question A Penny Fan Visit to Bloomingdale’s Bernard Baruch Last Wills Let Them Work for It

11 Jews of the Underworld

The Early Days Doing What Comes Naturally “Big” Jake and “Dopey” Benny Horses and Hoods Only in America Ma Crime Gyp “The Blood” Horowitz “Lepke” Buchalter “Kid Twist” Reles A. R. “Greasy Thumb” Guzik “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer Meyer Lansky

12 Stage, Screen and Song: The Yiddish Theater and Its Children

It Wouldn’t Hurt Sleep with a Baker The Yiddish King Lear An Actor’s Theater Jacob Gordin A Fighter’s Theater The Jewish Caruso Moishe Oysher The Great Houdini Include Me Out: The Legend of Sam Goldwyn The Dancing Cantor “Jolie” Toastmaster General Forgot to Remember Victor Borge “Uncle Miltie” Oh, God!

13 Notes from the Interior: The Catskills, Galveston, and Beyond

Southern Sabbath The Outcast of the Grand Union Hotel The Filth A True Story The Borscht Belt A Simple Question A Rabbi’s Market Galveston, Oh Galveston Another Jewish Holiday

14 The Old World in the New: Yiddish in America

Yiddish-Englishisms in American-Jewish Folklore New Yiddish in America How Yiddish Traveled Bilingual Jests, Puns, Sayings, and Graffiti Bilingual Vulgarisms Disappointed Zuhg Ah Yiddishe Vuhrt: Speak a Jewish Word Getting Mad in Yiddish Yiddish Sayings and Their Humorous Connotations Pocahontas, Yiddish Version All I Got Was Words Traditional Folk Beliefs and Superstitions

15 Out in the World: Changing Names, Fitting In, Moving Out

That Explains It Don’t Ask Name Changes Namesakes Bilingual Name Games How the Jews Became Fergusons Yankele No Christian Name “Nice American-Jewish Names” A Jew Named Kennedy Max Backward? No Good Joe Jew A Yew, Not a Yentile Conversion Benefit A Reason Religious Preferences Church Visit Hank Greenberg Mixed Children Ginsburg Horses at Shavous Greenhorns Onward, Hum-hum Soldiers Ikak, Rel Yid Return Home

16 Giving It Away/Taking It Back: Fund-Raising and Philanthropy

Peace Unto You A Satisfied Check “If Mr. Rosenwald Had Six Dozen Eggs . . .” Louis Pizitz of Birmingham Minnie’s Music Albert Greenfield of Philadelphia Religious Acts No Shame Ends & Means Fund-Raising Tips The 1967 War Pledging and Squeezing

17 The Synagogue in Transition

Not Today Stages “Without Grape Juice, There Is No Joy” “No Praying!” New Aesthetic Raffling Off the Torah Half a Loaf Crown of the Torah Handwriting on the Wall Our Little Secret You’d Never Believe Christmas Stories May He Rest Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah The American Shadchan New Matchmakers

18 Classic American-Jewish Humor

Second Chances Am I Thirsty Unsatisfied Special Order Wherever You Go Test Final Wishes Waiter Jokes Not So Good A to B A & Q Are You Jewish? Wrong Numbers Humor with the Yiddish Still In “Milchig” and “Flayshig” Jokes I Don’t Believe Another Jew Generations Just One Question He Meant Well Helping Hand Hitler’s Punishment Instructions Pictures The Venerable Young Mixed News That’s a Business? Baseball Einstein Jokes Reprieve Light Bulbs and J.A.P.s How the Jews Got the Commandments Questions Don’t Depend on Me Faith

19 Jews as Seen by Others

Impressions Reflections Body and Soul Who Is a Jew? The East Side and its Observers More Questions than Answers Money and Business: Jokes on Jews Old Sexual Folk Humor on Jews Told by Jews The Case of Leo Frank The Six-Day War Street Rhymes Camp Parodies and Cabin-Tent Songs Black and Jews in American Folklore Some Black Folklore Tales What Won’t They Do Jokes and Slurs on Blacks and Jews Sayings Peddler Pearlman and the Blacks Some Black-Jewish Jokes Color Cautious Topping the List “Freedom Cap” The Golden Plans The “Nineteen Messiahs”

Bibliography Index About the Authors

← Prev
Back
Next →

← Prev
Back
Next →