Invented Traditions: Hershele Ostropolyer as a Jewish Till Eulenspiegel

In 1921, Chajim Bloch published Hersch Ostropoler: Ein jüdischer Till Eulenspiegel des 18. Jahrhunderts (Hersh Ostropoler: A Jewish Till Eulenspiegel of the eighteenth century) in Vienna. The book describes Hershele as court fool at the Hasidic court of Barukh ben Yekhiel of Mezhbizh (1756–1811), a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Bloch’s literary text is often quoted as if it were a historical source, but the stories are in fact a loose translation from Yiddish into German of Dos freylekhe Hershele Ostropolyer oder der volveler teater shtik (1892). Bloch’s subtitle connects the Polish Jewish fool Hershele for a German Jewish audience to the German fool Till Eulenspiegel. The stories of Eulenspiegel were, however, translated into Yiddish already in four separate editions on the basis of a contemporary German edition between the sixteenth and eighteenth century.

My talk will analyze the alleged and existing connections between the Hershele and Eulenspiegel tradition in German and Yiddish. It will discuss the exchange and engagement between German and Yiddish literature, from late medieval popular novels through modern literature. By analyzing these different sources, the paper will discuss how early modern literature had a continuing effect on modern literary texts.