The ''Shmuel-Bukh'' is a midrashic verse

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

written in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. Composed no later than the second half of the 15th century and widely circulated in manuscript, it was first printed in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

in 1544. Its stanzaic form resembles that of the

Nibelungenlied The (, or ; or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germanic hero ...

, and its hero is the biblical

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

. Sol Liptzin characterizes it as the greatest Old Yiddish religious epic. iptzin, 1972, 8–9 Following the example of other European epics, the poem was not simply recited, but sung or chanted to musical accompaniment. Its melody was widely known in Jewish communities. As was the case with other early Yiddish adaptations of biblical narrative, it fuses biblical material,

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

ic legends and rabbinical commentary with medieval traditions of European heroic poetry, thus creating what some romantic scholars deemed an

Ashkenazic Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language t ...

'national epic,' comparable to the German 'national epic,' the

, the French 'national epic,'

The Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French li ...

, or the English 'national epic,'

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

.Introduction to Old Yiddish literature By Jean Baumgarten, Jerold C. Frakes Its authorship is a matter of controversy. The next to last stanza of one surviving manuscript says that it was "made" by Moshe Esrim Vearba. No one can be sure whether this "maker" is the author or a copyist, and ''Esrim Vearba'' is

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

for 24, the number of books of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Zalman Shazar Zalman Shazar (; November 24, 1885 – October 5, 1974) was an Israeli politician, author and poet. Shazar served as the president of Israel for two terms, from 1963 to 1973. Biography Shazar was born Shneur Zalman Rubashov to a Hasidic family o ...

(president of Israel 1963–1973) believed that it was written by an Ashekenazi

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

active in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(now

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

) in the second half of the 15th century. iptzin, 1972, 8-9 The work draws on the Hebrew Bible, the midrashic tradition, and Middle High German heroic tales. iptzin, 1972, 9

References

*Liptzin, Sol, ''A History of Yiddish Literature'', Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, {{ISBN, 0-8246-0124-6. Yiddish-language literature Epic poems Yiddish-language folklore Cultural depictions of David