Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

This is a great book for those interested in folklore, mythology, mysticism, legends, fairy and folktales. I found in it fascinating stories, legends, and reference to the Old Testament, the Kabbalah and many other such books. If you're interested to know more about such characters as Lilith, Adam, Eve, the Fallen Angels, Enoch etc etc, and about Jewish mystical worlds and creatures, this is the perfect book. I just couldn't put it down!

I can only endorse the glowing Editorial Reviews, some by persons far more qualified than I am to judge Schwartz's work -- and I've read widely on the subject, since there is a good deal of the literature available in English, although not arranged in the same fashion. Which is not something you would guess from some of the descriptions, although Schwartz carefully mentions them. However, there is a small problem with the Kindle edition: the hardcopy uses a slightly smaller type to set off the commentary from the main entry, which makes it easy to figure out which you are reading. The font-size is the same for both types of entry in the Kindle edition, which is standard. The commentaries are indented, and spotting this requires more attention, and is really difficult when commentaries extend well beyond the original entry, so that the difference is not immediately noticeable. This characteristic of the Kindle edition may account for why some readers have found it hard to separate the two bodies of material. There is also another defect: so far as I can, the illustrations are not included in the Kindle edition. Since they also serve to divide main sections of the book, this is not only aesthetically unfortunate, but increases the possible level of confusion for the unwary reader.

I ordered this book for my kid's middle school project. It turned out to be a great book with a lot of interesting stories that our whole family enjoys. Will read it during jewish holidays too. Nice addition to our home library.

Covers just about everything one would want to know. Hundreds of myths (religious based, mostly) but presented in such a way that one can skip around and read those of interest.

This book is comprehensive and well referenced. Sometimes a bit hard to tell where the myth ends and commentary begins. An essential source for modern divrei Torah as well.

A large book that reads like a reference manual. Highly recommended.

Incredibly wonderful book...I first found at a local library...my sole regret is the paperback version does not have author photo

I purchased 3 copies (2 for Chanakah presents) and received all three with oil-like smudge marks on the bottom and top of the pages (while the book is closed). I had a similar event happen on my previous order for the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan and another book. In that case, all three books had similar smudge marks and two of the books had damage to the front covers. I returned these only to get new copies that were less than fully clean with one of them having damage to the front cover also. I did not bother to return them again and should have learned my lesson. This time, I did not have the time to return them and also, I was just disgusted. But the people who got them as gifts appreciated them anyway. Regarding the content, there are positives and negatives. The positives are that many sources are used and most folks could learn new information regarding midrashim, etc. It is also well organized into categorical sections. Among the negatives are a simplistic explanation for the texts that adds very little to the text. The format is mostly cite the text, and then make a comment. Often times the comment is almost antagonistic of the text, poking fun at the text as though it be a silly "myth" and often times attempting to desribe these Jewish legends using "idolistic" explanations. The author shows himself to be nearly an apostate jew, or at best, a man who finds little meaningful signficance in these legends beyond what the sociologist would find from mythology. For those who view Judaism as a mere philosophy, the current book would be appropriate. For those who find the legends of Judaism sacred, I highly recommend Ginzberg's "Legends of the Jews".

Buch wurde prompt geliefert. Das Buch ist eine sehr gut Zusammenstellung jüdisch-rabbinischer Themenkomplexe und Themen, die übersichtlich geordnet dargeboten werden. Der Autor bietet pro Thema nicht zu viele Informationen, spart aber nicht mit Quellenverweisen. Wer sich über dies oder das informieren will, schlägt es auf und findet in der Regel zu dem was er sucht, zumindestens bestimmte Anhaltspunkte. Besonders geht der Autor auf bis heute tabuisierte Themen, wie z. B. jüdische Dämonologie, ein. Ein lohnenswerter Kauf. Unbedingt empfehlenswert.

This book is a very well written and comprehensive collection of Jewish myths, folk tales and legends. I bought this book as a reference for a larger body of research and it has been very useful when it comes to searching for particular stories. The book is split into several sections which categorise the stories under diferent subjects making searching for one no problem at all. Most entries also contain references and often a larger explanation of the entry itself. One thing that took me slightly off-guard however was the size and volume of the book, but this wasn't a problem as I like having large reference books.

Parables with morals that are educational and good for the most part