the rabbi and the twenty-nine witches. marilyn hirsh. (70)

while looking through the table of kids halloween books at the library, i came across this gem. since one day i plan on converting and marrying a nice jewish boy, i had to check it out. the book is based on a talmudic legend, and stands as an example of why i plan on converting.

the story is about a village that is haunted by twenty-nine witches every full moon. the only time the witches did not come out was when it rained. as a result no one in the village ever saw a full moon. one day an old grandmother went to the rabbi to share her despair at the fact she had never seen a full moon. her exact words were "i want to see the full moon before i die! is that too much to ask?" (for some odd reason i heard it in fran descher's mom on the nanny's voice.) and so the rabbi came up with a plan to get rid of the witches. i have to add that every time the rabbi was mentioned it was normally followed by the line, "after all, he is the rabbi."

so the rabbi made it rain and then had twenty-nine of the cleverest men go with him to where the witches lived. he told the witches that he was a witch too and that they should teach each other magic. so he had the witches create a wonderful feast and then his "magic" was that men appeared to dance with them, and the men went into action. and the men danced the women out of the cave and into the rain, where they melted. how very wizard of oz, i know, i'll have to google to see if it's inspired baum.

so with the witches gone and their magical feast still there, the village threw a party! for "a good feast should not go to waste." that is the real moral of the story, because the one thing that i have learned from my jewish friends is that they can throw an amazing party and have the best holidays.