Depiction Of Folk Genres In Scenes Of The Jewish Life In Alsace By Daniel Stauben

The book Scenes of the Jewish Life in Alsace by Daniel Stauben, is a series of tales about Jewish culture and traditions. The tales are all told from the author’s point of view as he observes Jewish religious rituals. In part one of the story Daniel returns to Alsace his childhood home, and witness Friday and Saturday Sabbath, a wedding and a funeral. All of the tales told in this story fall into at least one folk genre.

Folk Genres are labels that are used to organize and categorize different types of folklore. The three main types of folk genres are folk literature, folk customs and material culture. Folk literature is what people say such as oral myths and songs. Folk Customs is categorized by repeated behavior, it is what people do and it includes traditions and rituals. Material culture is what people make, it is anything you can see and touch and it usually has a function within the culture. In this book all of the folk genres are present but the main folk genre in chapters four and six is folk customs.

In chapter four of the story the author attends a wedding. He describes some of the marriage customs that occur, for instance the groom arriving early to the synagogue with relatives or close friends to pray. After that the groom meets his bride and they sit on a bench covered in Hebrew inscriptions that is made of mahogany. The Rabbi then places a white cloth over their heads and everyone throws rye and wheat over the cloth as a sign of fertility. After this ritual the bridal party returned to the Marem’s house for the distribution of the tithe. During the distribution of the tithe, the women are in the house performing another ritual. The women surround the bride and hide the bride’s hair in a satin cap. It is part of the Jewish custom that women must sacrifice their hair to their husbands. They must abandon all desire to look attractive. Following this ceremony, they all return to the synagogue for the wedding benediction, the final blessing for the newly weds. The benediction takes place under a canopy by the synagogue. They pray and then the Rabbi presents the couple with a blessed cup of wine that they drink out of. The groom then presents the bride with a ring, another prayer is said and afterward the bride and groom leave to begin the celebration.

In chapter six there is a funeral for a death in the Marem family. Within a very short amount of time from the wedding the funeral for their child occurs. The whole family was in the Marems’ home grieving the loss of their loved one. In one of the other room there were several Rabbis chanting prayers. It was a custom that they lay the body of the deceased on a board at the foot of the bed. Then the forgiveness ceremony took place, which is when the family entered the room where the boy died and one by one begged the deceased to forgive them if they ever mistreated him. The coffin is then shut and taken to the cemetery. They have sacred rites that follow, the body of the deceased is left in what was known as the purification house and there the body was washed, the hair combed and the nails cut. The body was then covered in shroud and a tallith is placed on the shoulders. After the coffin is lowered into the ground communal prayer then takes place in the house of the deceased and after that the mourning period begins. A cup filled with water is placed near the night-light. During the mourning period the soul of the deceased returns two times a day to purify itself before ascending to Heaven. The mourning period lasts eight days and throughout those eight days the community prays together in the morning and evening where the death occurred.

In chapter four and in chapter six the reader gets some insight on some of the Jewish folk customs. In both Jewish weddings and funerals there are important rituals that take place and have a specific meaning. For example, in the wedding the throwing of the rye and wheat is a symbol of fertility. In the funeral although there is no mass like in many other cultures, they honor and said their goodbyes to the dead in other ways such as the placement of the water by the night-light so the soul of the deceased can purify itself. Both the wedding and funeral ceremonies are emotional for different reasons. In the book the author says that the Jewish feel the loss of a loved one more deeply due to how close and family oriented they are and it is shown through the forgiveness ceremony and their other funeral rites. In chapter four and six there were also items of material culture like the mahogany bench in the wedding ceremony and the tallith in the funeral ceremony that played an important role in the rituals.

In chapters four and six we got a glimpse of some of the folk customs practiced by the Jewish people in 19th century France.