Chil­dren’s

The Sil­ly World of Chelm

Zal­man Goldstein
  • Review
By – May 17, 2017

The Sil­ly World of Chelm is a rich col­lec­tion of the folk tales of the back­wards world of Chelm, a leg­endary East­ern Euro­pean Jew­ish city filled so-called fools.” The text­book-sized vol­ume includes more than 150 short sto­ries telling of the lives of the world’s most fool­ish Jews. Read­ers will meet Mendel the tai­lor and his wife, who argue over whose father to name their baby after, even though both fathers share the name Chaim.” Read­ers will also find Old Kalman’s wife, who pur­chas­es a dog license even though she doesn’t own a dog. And, most impor­tant­ly, read­ers will love the Sage of Chelm, who, page after page, sto­ry after sto­ry, solves prob­lems in this crazy lit­tle town with the most ridicu­lous wis­dom.”

The book includes A Non-Intro­duc­tion Intro­duc­tion,” explain­ing the obtuse log­ic” and his­to­ry of the town in Poland, as well as the ori­gin of the book. Filled with pen and ink car­toon-like draw­ings, as well as a Pho­to Jour­nal” and pages to Draw Your Own Sto­ry Images, The Sil­ly World of Chelm is a nec­es­sary addi­tion to Jew­ish libraries in homes, schools and syn­a­gogues every­where. Rec­om­mend­ed for all ages, many of the tales are won­der­ful for read-aloud fun.

Paula Chaiken has worked in a vari­ety of capac­i­ties in the Jew­ish world — teach­ing in reli­gious school, curat­ing at the Sper­tus Muse­um and fundrais­ing for the Fed­er­a­tion — for more than twen­ty years. She also runs a bou­tique pub­lic rela­tions con­sult­ing firm and enjoys read­ing all sorts of books with her three sons.

Discussion Questions