translating things, building chill software for my friends, playing ttrpgs, making procedural vector art, learning piano, writing unhinged Utena fanfics, and just vibing



Yiddish-Folktales
@Yiddish-Folktales

The Treasure at Home

The Rebbe of Aleksander used to say, “Many people think that when they come to the rebbe, they will be helped,” And he liked to tell this tale to young people who came to see him for the first time.

One night, Ayzik, the son of Reb Yekl, dreamed that there was a treasure hidden under the Praga side of the Warsaw bridge. So he traveled to Warsaw. At the bridge he tried to reach the spot, but a soldier was standing guard there. So he paced back and forth as he waited for the soldier to go away. The soldier meanwhile became aware of someone on the bridge, so he went up to Ayzik and asked what he wanted. Ayzik told him the truth: that he had dreamed about a treasure buried under the bridge. The soldier said, “Aw, go on. Just because I dreamed about a treasure in the oven at the home of Ayzik, Reb Yekl’s son in Cracow, doesn’t mean I have to go there.”

Ayzik turned around and went home, where he took his oven apart and found a treasure that made him a very rich man.

* * *

GlossaryReb: The traditional title prefixed to a man’s name; comparable to “Mister” in English.
Rebbe: (lit., “my master”) A Hasidic spiritual leader; a rebbe may or may not also be a “rov” (ordained rabbi, q.v.). A “melamed” is usually addressed by his young pupils as “Rebbe.”

* * *

AnnotationsTELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Warsaw, Poland, (no date recorded)
SOURCE: V.A. 32:9b.
COMMENTS: In another variant of this popular legend (Cahan, 1938, p. 148) the hero is Reb Ayzik Yekeles of Sherbershin, who dreams of a treasure under a bridge in Leipzig and then uses the treasure he finds under his stove to build a beautiful synagogue in Shebershin. According to local legend this 950-year-old structure was designed by the architects who created the famous old Cracow synagogue.

You must log in to comment.