Folktales of the Jews, Volume 2: Tales from Eastern Europe

71. Communism and Religion (IFA14264)

71 Communism and Religion T O L D B Y M O R D E C A I H I L L E L K R O S H N I T Z T O AY E L E T O E T T I N G E R Stalin wanted to reform religion. What does that mean, “to reform religion ”? He wanted the religions to start teaching that Communism had not begun just now, with the Revolution, but that the Bible, too, preaches communism and there has always been Communism. So he summons the head of the Orthodox Church, which was the most important in Russia. That was their religion. He asks him, he tells the head priest, the patriarch, “You have to reform religion, to teach anyone who studies in the church and comes to you that Communism began long ago and that the Bible preaches Communism.” “I cannot do that,” says the patriarch. “Communism is against religion. How can I do such a thing? Distort the Bible?” He summons the head of the Catholic Church in Russia, and the same refrain is repeated, “I cannot.” He summons the head of the Muslim church (that of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and Turkistan), all the Muslims, and he says the same thing. After that he summons the chief rabbi. There was a chief rabbi in Moscow, for all the Jews. The rabbi says, “Comrade Stalin, we don’t have to change anything. We recognize the fact that there was Communism already at the beginning. The Bible tells about it from the first day.” “How can that be?” Stalin asks. “It is written that Adam and Eve were naked and barefoot and had to make do with one apple, that they shared and went naked and barefoot, and they said they were living in paradise. Nu, that’s just the way it is with us here.” 486 COMMENTARY FOR TALE 71 (IFA 14264) Told to Ayelet Oettinger by her grandfather Mordecai Hillel Kroshnitz in 1986 in Kiryat Yam. Cultural, Historical, and Literary Background In this tale, Stalin’s request follows the pattern of the Soviet Union’s notorious practice of adjusting history to serve the government’s political and ideological purposes. Following the Communist interpretation of Marxist philosophy, the Soviet regime rejected religious worship of any faith and imposed on its citizens an ideology that promoted atheism.1 Although the present joke underscores the antireligious measures of the Soviet regime, the tale follows the pattern of religious disputation stories in Jewish tradition. The classic tale involves the ruler of the Khazars, their Khaqan, who converted to Islam in 737 C.E. and then to Judaism three years later. One of the narratives in the Jewish tradition that explains this event involves a religious dispute between representatives of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, each defending the superiority of his own faith.2 Other historical cases are known.3 In the present story, however, the rabbi acts like a figure in modern Jewish ethnic jokes cycles in which he demonstrates his superiority through witty repartee, clever actions, and tricky behavior.4 References to studies of humor under oppressive regimes are given in the commentary to tale IFA 14263 (this vol., no. 70). Similarities to Other IFA Tales Other versions in the IFA are the following: • IFA 10145: The Opinion of Soviet Citizen (Poland). • IFA 13222: Who Wrote Yevgeni Oniegin (Ukraine). • IFA 14993: Where Is the Butter? Where Is H.ayyim? (Russia). Folktale Type • 1870*A (IFA) “Jokes on Dictators.” Folklore Motifs • A694.2 “Jewish paradise.” • H961 “Tasks performed by cleverness.” • P426.1 “Parson (priest).” • *P426.4 “Rabbi.” 71 / Communism and Religion  487  __________ Notes __________ 1. Bercken, Ideology and Atheism in the Soviet Union; Casey, Religion in Russia; Hakim, Islam and Communism; C. Lane, Christian Religion in the Soviet Union; and J. Thrower, Marxist-Leninist “Scientific Atheism.” 2. Bin Gorion, Mimekor Yisrael, 228–231 nos. 122–123 (1990 ed.). 3. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (see index to each vol., “Controversies, socioreligious”). 4. Cray, “The Rabbi Trickster”; and L. Mintz, “The Rabbi Versus the Priest.” For another version, see Galnoor and Lukes, No Laughing Matter, 108.  488  Folktales of the Jews: Volume 2 ...