The Jewish Pope
Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature

Joseph Sherman

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Studies In Yiddish 4

Legenda

1 July 2003  •  212pp

ISBN: 1-900755-77-7 (paperback)  •  RRP £75, $99, €85

ModernYiddishTheology

To what extent do Yiddish language and literature reflect dominant values of mainstream European culture? How far did this culture shape the self-perception of Yiddish-speaking European Jews? How did the hostile attitude adopted towards Jews over many centuries in Christian Europe shape modern Jewish identity and culture?

Joseph Sherman, winner of the 2002 MLA prize for Yiddish translation, deals with such questions in his close examination of the recurring treatment of the myth of the Jewish Pope in four Yiddish literary texts produced between 1602 and 1958. This myth - that one day a Jewish apostate might come to rule the world as Pope - derives from the ambiguities of the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 37-50).

The importance of this ground-breaking study may be seen in Sherman's focus on the effects of endemic European anti-Semitism on Jewish self-evaluation and self-recognition. In his concern with broader questions of cultural identity, he also addresses a readership with interests beyond the book's central Yiddish context.

Joseph Sherman is Corob Fellow in Yiddish Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and was formerly an Associate Professor of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is the English translator of writers including Dovid Bergelson, Sholem Aleykhem and the Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Reviews:

  • ‘Although I cannot concur fully with all of Sherman's conclusions, the building-blocks of his narrative (the examination of the Joseph story as the master narrative of the Jewish Pope myth, as well as the analyses of individual reworkings of the myth) are truly insightful, meticulously researched, and masterfully argued. His book is an important contribution to Jewish literary and cultural studies and will also be of great interest to students and scholars of folklore.’ — Elizabeth Loentz, Modern Language Review 100.4, October 2005, 1160-62 (full text online)

Bibliography entry:

Sherman, Joseph, The Jewish Pope: Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature, Studies In Yiddish, 4 (Legenda, 2003)

First footnote reference: 35 Joseph Sherman, The Jewish Pope: Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature, Studies In Yiddish, 4 (Legenda, 2003), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Sherman, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Sherman, Joseph. 2003. The Jewish Pope: Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature, Studies In Yiddish, 4 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Sherman 2003: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Sherman 2003: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

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www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Jewish-Pope
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/siy-4