The rabbi and the twenty-nine witches

by Marilyn Hirsh

Hardcover, 2009

Status

Available

Call number

J 398.2

Collection

Publication

Tarrytown, NY : Marshall Cavendish Children, 2009.

Description

A wise old rabbi finally rids the village of the witches that terrorize it every night that the moon is full.

User reviews

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Originally published in 1976, and just reprinted by Marshall Cavendish this year, Marilyn Hirsh's The Rabbi and the Twenty-Nine Witches is taken from the Talmud, and concerns an ordinary village beset by extraordinary witches. Driven indoors every full moon by "twenty-nine of the meanest, scariest,
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ugliest, wickedest witches that ever were, the villagers turn to their rabbi, who comes up with a very clever way of ridding the town of these pests...

An engaging story, paired with Hirsh's somewhat scribbly (but ultimately charming) black and white illustrations, makes this an entertaining bedtime selection. Young folklore enthusiasts in particular will appreciate the tale. I do feel somewhat ambivalent about stories concerning the killing of witches, whether they be from Grimm, or from the Talmud, as I believe they are often a reflection of a terrible and violent misogyny. Still, they exist in many traditions, and I don't believe they should be edited out of existence. And children, of course, probably won't have any qualms at all.
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LibraryThing member csloan
This book is about twenty nine witches that come out on the full moon and scare everyone in the village. So the Rabbi realizes that the witches do not come out if it is raining. So he comes up with a plan to trick them to come out into the rain. He ask the brave men of the community to help him and
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the men set out trick the witches and succeed and never have to worry about them agian.
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LibraryThing member Scrane4
This book was a little strange. I didn't really like the book because of the characters and illustrations. The characters in the book were 29 witches, 29 village men and a Rabbi. They weren't well developed and there wasn't really much to the story. For example, the 29 men came into the story
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abruptly at the end to help scare away the witches. The illustrations in the book were very dull. All characters were drawn in black. The only color in the book was the blue sky. I think that the lack of color made the story seem very cold. Overall, I think the purpose of the story was to show that witches aren't very bright and can be out smarted.
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LibraryThing member lquilter
Witches haunt a town, a wise old rabbi comes up with a solution, and tricks the witches, who shrink into nothingness. I liked some of the small touches: The rabbi losing track of his plan when the banquet of food is set up, and the touch of compassion -- all the townsmen said it was a fate they
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wouldn't wish on their worst enemies. And the final scene, when everybody in town gets to enjoy a full moon, at last.

My 6yo listened intently and at the end, smiled and said, "I really liked that."
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Language

Physical description

23 cm

ISBN

9780761455868
Page: 0.3564 seconds