About the Author

Howard Schwartz is Professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the editor of Elijah's Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales, Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World, Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, and Gabriel's Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales. Caren Loebel-Fried is an award-winning illustrator and author of many works on mythology. Her Hawaiian
Legends of the Guardian Spirits received the 2003 Ka Palapala Po`okela Award for Excellence in Illustration.

Reviews

"This remarkable work will be of interest to both the scholar and the browser."--Booklist
"One of those few books that can be cherished and enjoyed by all readers, whether scholars or merely those interested in good stories.... In this massive work, Schwartz gathers nearly seven hundred myths to show that there is, indeed, a Jewish mythology. His selections are wisely and cleverly chosen.... No one in recent times has even attempted to put together such a comprehensive work. In both the collecting and organizing of his material, Schwartz has done a
masterful job."--Josepha Sherman, Parabola
"Howard Schwartz offers a resounding rebuttal to the old accusation that the Jews have no mythology: hundreds of myths, in an unbroken line from the Tanakh itself to many new, previously untranslated contemporary retellings from the Middle East and throughout the diaspora. Tree of Souls illuminates the mythic elements of stories previously seen as theological or folkloric. Now properly classified as world mythology, they will for the first time be more
accurately compared and contrasted with the foundational myths of other cultures. This is that rare book that is both a fascinating read for the non-specialist and a turning point for scholarship." --Wendy
Doniger, author of The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-Imitation
"Beyond any of his other books, in Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism Howard Schwartz offers us his masterwork. If only Joseph Campbell had lived to see it. Schwartz has brought the underground streams of Midrash to the surface for the delight and edification of his academic as well as his popular readers." --Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, author of Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters
"Under the complex, meaning-rich, and culturally important heading of 'mythology,' Howard Schwartz provides a beautifully introduced and annotated collection of essential stories and scenes that help to define Judaism in the classical tradition. Schwartz's careful, erudite method of presentation and his excellent selection of texts reveals fine mastery of the material and the pleasingly comparative orientation of the folklorist." --Susan Niditch, author of
Ancient Israelite Religion
"Tree of Souls promises to shatter the myth that Judaism is mythless. Drawing on primary source texts of the Jewish tradition itself, storyteller Howard Schwartz introduces us to a dimension of this ancient path that has for centuries been overshadowed by attempts at religious correctness and party-line theology. Jewish mythology, Schwartz demonstrates with ample commentaries, is not only a fact, it is the very kernel out of which grew the deepest of
Kabbalistic mystery wisdom as well as the most pragmatic of Jewish law and lore. Clearly, Judaism owes its survival to its mythology, and in Tree of Souls Schwartz invites us to discover the mystique, actually
the very life force, of this very ancient religion." --Gershon Winkler, author of Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism
"This remarkable work will be of interest to both the scholar and the browser."--Booklist
"One of those few books that can be cherished and enjoyed by all readers, whether scholars or merely those interested in good stories.... In this massive work, Schwartz gathers nearly seven hundred myths to show that there is, indeed, a Jewish mythology. His selections are wisely and cleverly chosen.... No one in recent times has even attempted to put together such a comprehensive work. In both the collecting and organizing of his material, Schwartz has done a
masterful job."--Josepha Sherman, Parabola
"Howard Schwartz offers a resounding rebuttal to the old accusation that the Jews have no mythology: hundreds of myths, in an unbroken line from the Tanakh itself to many new, previously untranslated contemporary retellings from the Middle East and throughout the diaspora. Tree of Souls illuminates the mythic elements of stories previously seen as theological or folkloric. Now properly classified as world mythology, they will for the first time be more
accurately compared and contrasted with the foundational myths of other cultures. This is that rare book that is both a fascinating read for the non-specialist and a turning point for scholarship." --Wendy
Doniger, author of The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-Imitation
"Beyond any of his other books, in Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism Howard Schwartz offers us his masterwork. If only Joseph Campbell had lived to see it. Schwartz has brought the underground streams of Midrash to the surface for the delight and edification of his academic as well as his popular readers." --Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, author of Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters
"Under the complex, meaning-rich, and culturally important heading of 'mythology,' Howard Schwartz provides a beautifully introduced and annotated collection of essential stories and scenes that help to define Judaism in the classical tradition. Schwartz's careful, erudite method of presentation and his excellent selection of texts reveals fine mastery of the material and the pleasingly comparative orientation of the folklorist." --Susan Niditch, author of
Ancient Israelite Religion
"Tree of Souls promises to shatter the myth that Judaism is mythless. Drawing on primary source texts of the Jewish tradition itself, storyteller Howard Schwartz introduces us to a dimension of this ancient path that has for centuries been overshadowed by attempts at religious correctness and party-line theology. Jewish mythology, Schwartz demonstrates with ample commentaries, is not only a fact, it is the very kernel out of which grew the deepest of
Kabbalistic mystery wisdom as well as the most pragmatic of Jewish law and lore. Clearly, Judaism owes its survival to its mythology, and in Tree of Souls Schwartz invites us to discover the mystique, actually
the very life force, of this very ancient religion." --Gershon Winkler, author of Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism