Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the sudden transformation of men into beasts and vice versa, or by other unnatural incidents. A number of aggadic stories bear folktale characteristics, especially those relating to Og, King of Bashan, which have the same exaggerations as have the lügenmärchen of modern German folktales.

Middle Ages

There is considerable evidence of Jewish people bringing and helping the spread of Eastern folktales in Europe. Besides these tales from foreign sources, Jews either collected or composed others which were told throughout the European ghettos, and were collected in Yiddish in the "Maasebücher". Numbers of the folktales contained in these collections were also published separately. It is, however, difficult to call many of them folktales in the sense given above, since nothing fairy-like or supernormal occurs in them.

Legends

There are a few definitely Jewish legends of the Middle Ages which partake of the character of folktales, such as those of the Jewish pope Andreas and of the golem, or that relating to the wall of the Rashi chapel, which moved backward in order to save the life of a poor woman who was in danger of being crushed by a passing carriage in the narrow way. Several of these legends were collected by (Sagen und Legenden der Jüdischen Vorzeit). In the late 19th century many folktales were gathered among Jews or published from Hebrew manuscripts by in the Revue des Etudes Juives, in the Revue des Traditions Populaires, and in Melusine; by Moses Gaster in Folk-Lore and in the reports of Montefiore College; and by Max Grunwald in Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde; by L. Wiener in the same periodical; and by F. S. Krauss in Urquell, both series.

Aggadah and folklore compilations

In art

Jewish folklore has been a theme of Jewish painting. Notable painters who used themes from Jewish folklore include Marc Chagall, Yitzhak Frenkel, Meer Akselrod and others. Themes painted by such artists include scenes from ordinary Jewish life, infused with folkloric elements and themes. Jewish folklore showcased itself through Hebrew micrography, papercutting, woodwork, artisanal works and more. In Eastern Europe, the shtetl was often a major theme in the work of Jewish artists, who infused fantasy with reality in their works.