#the adventures of hershel of ostropol

[snapbookreviews]

Summer 2024 Behind-the-Scenes Reading

This summer was the summer of thesis reading.

There’s a very academic bent to this write-up, because, as I mentioned in last quarter’s write up. This was the summer of thesis reading. The write up you see before you is in no small part an extension of my thesis journaling, which was the half of my summer that wasn’t reading, meaning that even the non academic books here have been read in an academic mindset with an academic…

[plounce]

whats better than this. idly looking at someone's wikipedia page and within a few curious clicks you find out that they rolled with the lgbt

[subhuman-and-feedable]

Someone threw my copy of The Adventure of Hershel of Ostropol in a lake. If anyone has a digital copy they would be willing to allow me to download I would be so grateful!

[shtetlcore]

Shtetl Swag Competition Lineup

The lineup is ready!! The polls will drop either tomorrow night (Wednesday 2/22) or Saturday night (2/25)! The bracket and matchups will be posted between now and then :) Slight change -- Round 1 will only be 32 contestants, not 64.

BEINGS FROM FOLKLORE:

The Golem of Prague Dybbukim Shretlech Sheydim Shomer Dapim SHTETL ARCHETYPES:

The Shnorer The Feldsher The Zogerke The Rabbi The Klezmer The Shammes The Klogerin The Shadchan The Chevrusas The Tavernkeeper The Wooden Shul The Little Goat CHARACTERS:

Manke (God of Vengeance) Yentl/Anshl (Yentl) Tevye (Fiddler) Fruma Sarah (Fiddler) Leah (The Dybbuk) Mirka (Hereville) The Wise Men of Chelm Hershel of Ostropol (Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins) Little Ash (When the Angels Left the Old Country) Menachem Mendel (The Adventures of Menachem Mendel) Miryem Mandelstam (Spinning Silver) Lemml (Indecent) Asa Heshel (The Family Moskvat) Grandpa (Something From Nothing) Babushka Riva (Real Life)

[kosher-martian]

Second night, so light two lights with all your might! Also pictured: a copy of The Adventures of Hershel of Ostropol. If you know Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, it's the same Hershel.

[aeondeug]

something that sticks out to me with kaz is his fondness for stage magic type tricks and escape artistry. it reminds me of things like how the start of the adventures of cavalier and clay there's a big portion about how the one boy admires harry houdini and aspires to be like him. that to be able to be like him was the dream of every jewish boy on the block. or figures like hershel of ostropol who plays tricks and can't ever be truly caught and who succeeds via clever schemes.

kaz isn't filled with the aspirational dreams of being like harry houdini though. and he's not a fun folklore hero you'd find in a children's picture book. he's very grim and he's exceptionally brutal. he's very driven, yes, but his motivation is revenge.

this isn't really a complete thought. it's only a half thought. but it is one that i've been thinking of while reading this book. maybe it will develop into a more cogent and purposeful thing at some point.

[anonymousdandelion]

Crowley and Aziraphale meet Hershel of Ostropol

As usual this time each year, I reread the wonderful work of classic Jewish children’s literature that is Eric Kimmel’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. And then afterwards (also as usual these days), my brain drifted to thinking about Good Omens.

I'd probably try to turn the resulting thoughts into a niche crossover fic, except I’m still very much out of creative writing mode, so that probably won’t happen. So instead: Tumblr rambles that will probably mean nothing to anyone but me!

Because, see, I can’t help thinking that Crowley would have very much admired Hershel of Ostropol, in all his trickster glory. I mean, really. Just look at Hershel’s shenanigans, his sense of humor, his sheer audacity. The man’s wiles! Crowley is definitely a fan.

(Aziraphale might pretend to be disapproving of some of Hershel’s methods. But something tells me he in fact has his own sense of appreciation for a clever, incorrigible prankster.)

As for the goblins, haunting the old synagogue and ruining Chanukah? It’s no great stretch of the imagination to say these are demons. Mostly lower-ranking ones, presumably (with the obvious exception of the king who shows up on the final night); looking at Trina Schart Hyman’s vivid illustrations, Hell’s Usher from GO would fit right in with the crowd.

(Side note: I imagine they don’t have pickles in Hell, so I can’t help but feel some sympathy for Eric’s big, green, overdramatic, pickle-deprived waddling cousin. Despite everything, I do hope Crowley will bring down a jar for the poor fellow sometime.)

Now, back to the fic that I probably won’t write... well, first I was trying to figure out what role Crowley and/or Aziraphale might play in Hershel’s showdowns against the goblins. Does Crowley help Hershel out? Give tips on how to defeat his own goblin/demon coworkers? Does Aziraphale join in the attempt to protect the holiday? Do both of them work on it together? Does Crowley have to be a reluctant collaborator with the goblins? Does the Arrangement come into play?

...But then I realized it would feel truer to both canon source materials if in fact Hershel still pulls off his victory single-handed, just as he does in today’s telling of the story, while Aziraphale and Crowley bicker in the background while waiting around with the rest of the villagers and making no difference at all.

(They’d both have liked to do something to help, really, they would, it’s just that Aziraphale did a few too many anticipatory small-scale oil-extending, dreidel-charming, and latke-multiplying miracles elsewhere recently, and so he’s at the end of his budget for the time being.)

(And Crowley, of course, can’t exactly go sticking his neck out to publicly challenge his own coworkers. There’s always the possibility that he is a, perhaps reluctant, collaborator in the haunting himself.)

(Though at this point he is seriously considering sticking his neck out anyway, consequences be blessed, if Aziraphale complains one more time about the lack of latkes...)

Fortunately, Hershel comes through to save the day on his own — unaided by any forces save his trademark brand of craftiness, Chanukah candles, a few eggs and pickles and a dreidel, and of course an extra-sized serving of raw chutzpah.

And when Hershel finally returns to the village on the last night of Chanukah, he doesn’t even know he isn’t the only non-local there tonight. He doesn’t know that among the throngs of people waiting to welcome him back with latke-laden platters, hanging around on the outskirts and exchanging smiles, are an angel and a demon. He doesn’t need to know that.

But it’s possible, just possible, that a little demonic miracle or two might have helped make sure that Hershel of Ostropol and and his escapades would not be forgotten. It’s possible, just possible, that an off-the-record angelic blessing helped safeguard his legacy, to be preserved in jokes and tales.

And so, today, Hershel’s adventures are remembered, retold, and passed on for future generations to read and hear and laugh over together, as the villagers’ descendants gather once again around the menorah to celebrate another triumph of tradition and the spirit of Chanukah.

(I suppose this post can count as my accidental contribution to @5ftjewishcactus‘s Chanukah Omens 2021 event, since it ended up incorporating several of the prompts.)