There are so many fascinating characters in Jewish storytelling. Elijah the Prophet. Serach Bat Asher. Ashmodai, King of the Demons. King Solomon. Agrat, and her Gang of Destroying Angels. Lilith. Dybbuks. Golems. The overworked Angel of Death, and his inept intern Chad. They might appear first in Jewish tradition in texts like the Tanach and Talmud. But their adventures continue through Midrash, legends, folklore, ritual objects, art, and song.

Welcome to Jewish Lore Reactions, a spinoff from Daf Reactions, that follows these characters through space and time, tracing the sprawling evolution of their stories across the Jewish diaspora in an incredible, extended chain of imagination: The collective narrative world-building of the Jewish people. This series is born from my wish to show my heartfelt appreciation for, and celebration of, Jewish stories, peoplehood, and creative resiliency.

In creating this series, I read many books (a selected list is below) and received guidance and feedback, both creative and scholarly, from some of the most incredibly brilliant people in their fields. Thank you in particular to: The Digital Storytellers Lab (including Creative Director Sarah Lefton, Program Director Janine Okmin, the Maimonides Fund, and my fellow 2024 Fellows), Sarah Benor, Hadar Cohen, Ian Coss, Jesse Kellerman, Ilan Kogan, my extremely supportive chevruta Geo Poor, Rabbi Shais Rishon, Blake Robin, Dr. Galit Hasan-Rokem, Dr. Sara Ronis, Rabbi Sivan Rotholz, Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, and Jack Zaientz (known online as Adne Sadeh: Jewish Monster Hunter).

Deepest personal gratitude to: Eve E., for her friendship and storytelling trope deep-dives, Diane P., who appears in every backdrop I make in the form of a butterfly, David P., without whom I would never have begun creating my own content, Hannah A., for her sympathetic ear and knowledge of ancient myths, Janet P., for instilling in me a love of Jewish storytelling (and for letting me abscond with many of her Jewish folklore books,) and my father Steve Anzovin, Z”L, who read The Lord of the Rings to me when I was 4, and gave me his love of fantasy literature and imaginative world-building. Thank you, I guess, to my incredibly obnoxious but deeply beloved dog Sansa, for demonstrating what demonic possession could look (and especially sound) like. And to Ronin Z., ani l’dodi, v’dodi li. Lastly, thank YOU, the viewers, for watching and listening to these tales! I hope you enjoy them!

Episode Source Guide:

Will The Real King Solomon Please Stand Up? Part I

Wanna hear a shocking cautionary tale about identity theft between Ashmodai, King of the Demons and the Biblical King Solomon? That also somehow involves a ✨MAGIC WORM✨?! Gather ‘round the phone screen, and let me tell you the story...

Main sources: Talmud Bavli - Brachot 6a, Gittin 68, & Demons in the Details (Ronis)

Will The Real King Solomon Please Stand Up? Part II

Solomon has been resoundingly yeeted, but will a shocking report from the harem lead to Ashmodai being, um, de-feeted? The drama continues!

Main sources: Talmud Bavli - Brachot 6a, Gittin 68, & Demons in the Details (Ronis)

Agrat and the Destroying Angels

Meet Agrat, demon queen and mother of Ashmodai, who rolls deep with a squad of 180,000 angels of destruction in an intersectional coalition of mutually supportive absolute menace! 👑😈💃

Main sources: Talmud Bavli - Pesachim 112b, Yalḳut Ḥadash, Keshafim, 56, The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 77, No. 306 (Oct. - Dec., 1964), pp. 295-314, & Demons in the Details (Ronis)

The Jewish Lore Reactions Reading List:

A Big Jewish Book: Poems & Other Visions of the Jews From Tribal Times to Present, edited by Jerome Rothenberg

A History of Jewish Costume, Alfred Rubens

A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, Wisdom and Folk Songs of the Jewish People, edited by Nathan Asubel

Book of Fables, translated and edited by Eli Katz

Cultures of the Jews: A New History, edited by David Biale

Demons in the Details: Demonic Discourse and Rabbinic Culture in Late Antique Babylonia, Sara Ronis

Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash, edited by Tamar Biala

Elijah and the Rabbis: Story and Theology, by Kristen H. Lindbeck

Gabriel’s Palace, by Howard Schwartz

Gates to the Old City: A Book of Jewish Legends, by Raphael Patai

Jewish Art Masterpieces, edited by Iris Fishof

Jewish Blues: A History of a Color in Judaism, by Gadi Sagiv

Jewish Folktales, by Pinhas Sadeh

Jewish Folkways in Germanic Lands (1648 - 1806), by Herman Pollack

Jewish Life in Art and Tradition, by Yehuda L. Bialer

Jewish Magic and Superstition, by Joshua Trachtenberg

Jewish Wisdom, by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

Leaves From the Garden of Eden, by Howard Schwartz

Lilith’s Cave, by Howard Schwartz

Mimekor Yisrael: Selected Classical Jewish Folktales, collected by Micha Joseph Bin Gorion, edited by Emanuel Bin Gorion, prepared by Dan Ben-Amos

Music in Jewish History and Culture, by Emanuel Rubin and John H. Baron

Reimagining the Bible: Storytelling of the Rabbis, by Howard Schwartz

Ritual Medical Lore of Sephardic Women, by Isaac Jack Lévy and Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt

Sefer Yitzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice, by Aryeh Kaplan

Tales of Elijah The Prophet, by Peninnah Schram

Tales of the Neighborhood: Jewish Narrative Dialogues in Late Antiquity, by Galit Hasan-Rokem

The Book of Jewish Women’s Tales, by Barbara Rush

The Book of Legends/Sefer Ha-Aggadah: Legends from the Talmud and Midrash, edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, & Mysticism, by Geoffrey W. Dennis

The Jewish Story Finder, by Sharon Barcan Elswit

The Last Demon, Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Legends of the Rabbis, by Judah Nadich

The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln, by Glückel of Hameln

The Passover anthology, by Philip Goodman

The Purim Anthology, by Philip Goodman

The Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, by Howard Schwartz

The Yom Kippur Anthology, by Philip Goodman

Traditional Jewish Papercuts: An Inner World of Art and Symbol, by Joseph & Yehudit Shadur

Voices of a People, by Ruth Rubin

Web of Life: Folklore and Midrash in Rabbinic Literature, by Galit Hasan-Rokem

Yenne Velt: The Great Works of Jewish Fantasy & Occult, edited by Joachim Neugroschel

Yiddish Folktales, edited by Beatrice Silverman Weinreich