Once upon a time, there was a shammas full of years and stories. Night after night, like some kabbalistic Scheherazade, this amiable fellow tells stories to soothe his rabbi who cannot sleep. This is the premise of Night Tales Remembered: Fables from the Shammas, a wise, witty, and wonderfully rich platter of Jewish folklore, fact, and fantasy. To read one story is to crave the next! In the best of Jewish traditions, this oral lore-continuing the enchantment first cast by Katz in Night Tales of the Shammas informs, inspires, and enriches, even as it entertains. Each evening, by the crackling stove fire, the rabbi is regaled with these faith-filled wisdom tales. Here are delightful dilemmas, curious customs and superstitions, snippets from traditional texts, and mysticism alongside mirth, the memories of this amazing shamas are indeed a delight to share. Set in Cologne of the Middle Age, Night Tales Remembered revolves around saintly rabbis who knew the secrets of the holy and who communed with angels to solve both the ordinary and extraordinary problems of their congregants. It was the end of the age of Rashi and the beginning of the age of Rambam, when these and other people might appear at the yeshiva at any time of day or night: "For in medieval Europe, wandering pilgrims were constantly returning from their foreign travels. These wayfarers came wide-eyed and worn, and they came filled with tales." It was also a time when miracles seemed more commonplace and the metaphysical more at hand. As one of the characters assures us, " There is great magic and mystery abroad in the world. All is not what it seems on the surface... there are always more hidden joys...and the truly pious student can find these treasures forever...the words are rich and thick and multi-layered." And so it is with Night Tales Remembered. Although the style is fresh and new, these stories lose nothing of their ancient flavor and wisdom. In this second volume of a trilogy that has already been praised as the best Jewish storytelling is a generation, Michael Katz continues to warm our hearts and souls by the shammas' fire.
by Michael Jay Katz