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Journal of American Folklore 135 (2022)
Jewish Folktales from Morocco: Tales of Seha guises. Surprisingly, the recognition of Seha as a
the Sage and Seha the Clown. By Marc Eliany. trickster, although it is mentioned in Annette B.
Introduction by Annette B. Fromm. (Lanham, Fromm’s introduction, does not inform Eliany’s
MD: Lexington Books, 2021. Pp. xi + 115, list analysis of the tales.
of figures, acknowledgments, introduction, bib- Barbara Babcock-Abrahams, in her seminal
liography, index, about the authors.) article “‘A Tolerated Margin of Mess’: The Trick-
ster and his Tales Reconsidered” (Journal of the
Dina Stein Folklore Institute 11:47–86, 1975), provides a
University of Haifa broad characterization of the trickster narra-
tive. She regards the trickster as a liminal figure
Seha is a Moroccan trickster, known elsewhere who marks the paradoxes and contradictions
also as Joha, the renowned trickster in Jewish between creation and destruction, the individ-
and non-Jewish Mediterranean folklore. Marc ual and society, and center and margins. He is
Eliany’s modest volume introduces close to 50 a sign who embodies unresolved ambivalence
Seha tales, annotated and framed in themati- and cultural tensions. The trickster narrative
cally organized chapters that range from social contains a playful element and often—although
concepts such as compassion and gossip to phe- not always—a comic component. Through his
nomena such as immigration, secularization, marginal position, the trickster introduces a
and modernization. The author, Eliany, is the reflection on normative categories, exposing
mediating agent, writing down these tales that their arbitrary qualities.
he had heard from his beloved grandparents in Approaching the tales of Seha as trickster
his Moroccan hometown Benni Mellal and later narratives yields different readings from those
in the post-immigration residence of his pater- suggested by Eliany, which mostly highlight
nal grandparents in Kiryat Shmonah, Israel. Not a moral lesson or positive value that they are
only do these tales serve as a rich template for meant to impart. A few examples will suffice.
ethnographic and historical analysis of the Jews Chapter 4, titled “Tales of Compassion and
of Morocco, pre-and post-migration, they also Gossip,” tells the story of Seha’s compassion
intimately recollect one person’s geographic and for donkeys:
mental journey.
The 27 thematic chapters are followed by Just outside the town of Beni Mellal, at the foot
concluding remarks addressing the distinct of the Atlas Mountains, halfway between Fez
repertoire of each of the three storytellers: and Marrakesh, villagers assembled once or
Grandpa Mordekhay’s Seha—a cultural Jewish twice a year to buy and sell beasts of burden,
hero; Grandma Esther’s Seha—a comic figure; such as horses and donkeys. One day, Seha
and Grandma Tany’s Seha—a socioeconomic went on a mission to buy a young donkey for
and political hero. In addition, the conclusion his community. Seha chose one that seemed
healthy, negotiated a decent price, tied a rope
offers suggestive pointers regarding Seha’s
around his neck, and took the road back to
embodiment of transformational processes,
Beni Mellal.
namely, modernization and secularization,
The first couple of people Seha met saluted
which characterized sociopolitical condi-
him, but as soon as they parted they said, “Seha
tions in Morocco and which were no longer bought a donkey but he walks barefoot.” Seha
relevant in the newly declared state of Israel. climbed on the donkey’s back and continued
This contextual shift explains why Seha “was his ride to town.
left behind in Morocco when the majority of Down the road Seha met a few more people
Jews left their homeland in the mid-twentieth who saluted him, but as soon as they parted
century” (p. 101). The tales of Seha, argues they shook their heads and said, “He who has
Eliany, “are about a popular fictional hero in no mercy, will soon ride a dead animal!” Seha
Jewish Moroccan storytelling who embodies carried the donkey on his shoulders and walked
a symbolic self-reflexive narrative representing the remaining distance to town.
reality and change” (p. 101; emphasis added). When Seha finally entered Beni Mellal,
In other words, he is a trickster in many of his people rushed to help him and said, “Seha is a
