Feathers in the Wind: A Yiddish Folktale (Full/Choral Score)

By Rex Isenberg

Item Number: EC.8724

ISBN 600313487248. English, Yiddish.

A spirited musical retelling of a timeless Jewish folktale about the consequences of gossip. Attributed to a Hasidic scholar commonly referred to as the Baal Shem Tov, (ca. 1700–1760), the parable tells of a man who circulates a false rumor about the town rabbi, causing the villagers to lose faith in their trusted leader. When the man goes to beg the rabbi’s forgiveness for damaging his reputation, the rabbi tells the man that he may return and ask for forgiveness only after he has released the feathers from a pillow and gathered them all up again. The impossible task serves as a powerful metaphor for the far-reaching effects of gossip and the inability to reverse its harm.