Week 10 

There were two main difference that I found between Jewish fairy tales and European fairy tales. One is that while in European fairy tales there characters consist of at least 1 out of 9 character facet,  while Jewish fairy tales have a range of characters but is always includes the Rabbi in some way. For example, the "princesses" in Cinderella and Rapunzel both features a damsel in distress character and a charming prince, where as A Dispute in Sign Language and The Rabbi and the Inquisitor both feature a Rabbi. This being a common theme in fairy tales also adds more of a religious feeling to all of the fairy tales, thus emphasizing the  audience's general understanding and appreciation for the culture and their norms. This is backed up by the fact that the Rabbi is then viewed as an important figure regardless of its role in within the story. Constantly hearing of tales where the Rabbi is always present might also passively be conveying the message that the Rabbi knows all and he is the best person to come to for advice and guidance because he has seen all things. The other difference I noted was that European fairy tales are mostly centered around romantic endings- enforcing the idea that love is the only way to a happy ending- however, Jewish fairy tales have rather humorous endings and aren't necessarily as enriched on the pushing the romantic themes nearly as frequently as European fairy tales. These stories instead push more of a moral agenda within their stories. Jewish fairy tales also don't always include some element of magic- which is actually another major difference from European fairy tales and emphasize using wit to outsmart opponents.