Wise Men of Chelm

[2] Some Chełm stories emulate the interpretive process of Midrash and the Talmudic style of argumentation,[3] and continue the dialogue between rabbinic texts and their manifestation in the daily arena.

[4][5] The seemingly tangential questioning that is typical of the Chełm Jewish Council can be interpreted as a comedic hint at the vastness of Talmudic literature.

The combination of paralleled argumentation and linguistic commonality allows the Jewish textual tradition, namely Talmudic, to shine through Chełm folklore.

[8] In the latter book Dick draws a comparison of Duratshesok with Chelm saying that Helm has a reputation of vilde harishkeyn (wild foolishness) and gives the examples thereof, which turn out to be retellings of Schildbürger stories and their imitations.

[8] Only a single copy of the book is known, in the National Library of Jerusalem, where Ruth von Bernuth worked on a research grant.

[1] Many Yiddish writers published their own versions of Chelm stories or used folkoric themes from them, including Y. L. Peretz, Leyb Kvitko, and Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Fools of Chelm and Their History[1][11] Mendele Mocher Sforim invented three shtetls inhabited by naive, luckless Jews, reminiscent of the wise men of Chelm: Kabtzansk (loosely meaning "Pauperville", from Yiddish: קבצנ, "pauper", "beggar"), Tuneyadevke ("Idlersville", from Russian 'тунеядец', "freeloader", "idler"), and Glupsk ("Foolstown", from Russian, 'глупец' for "fool").

[12] The Soviet Yiddish poet Ovsey Driz [yi; ru] published a collection of verse, Khelemer khakhomim, translated into Russian as "Хеломские мудрецы" in 1969, which was republished in post-Soviet Russia several times.

[16] He later published these tales in the book Khelemer mayses (Chelm Stories; Polish transcription: Chelemer Majses, 1930).

[17] Khelmer khakhomim oder yidn fun der kligster shtot in der welt ("The Wise Men of Chelm, or the Jews from the Wisest Town in the World") (1951) by Yehiel Yeshaya Trunk was described by Or Rogovin as "a vast book of sophisticated tales that artistically fuse the different Chelm traditions with innovative plots and historical, linguistic, and cultural material.

Using mostly formalist methodology, this essay analyzes the devices and materials constituting a process I call shtetlization, in which the Chelm of folklore is immersed with the spirit and qualities of the shtetl to create not a realistic East European Jewish town but a myth of it.

Locating Trunk’s work in its circumstances of writing, my conclusion explores Khelemer khakhomim as a means of commemoration of the lost world of the shtetl in the aftermath of the Holocaust".

Soon it got caught on a mountaintop and so all the foolishness spilled out and fell into Chełm.Another one capitalizing on the location of Chelm atop of a hill: The town of Chełm decided to build a new synagogue.

Alter Druyanov in The Book of Jokes and Wit [he] tells a slightly different story: about logs carrying vs. stone rolling.

So all the Rabbis and elders and wise men of Chełm were summoned together and they spent three days in the synagogue fasting and praying and debating this marvelous event among themselves.

"There are several variants on how the wise men of Khelm tried to capture the moon for their own by trapping its reflection in a barrel or in a well, although this folly is found in folktales in many locations all over the world.