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Фьялкова, Лариса  Коли гори сходяться: нарис українсько-
ізраїлських фольклорних взаємин [Fialkova, Larisa.  When Mountains 
Meet: A Study of Ukrainian-Israeli Folklore Connections].  Kyiv: IMFE 
(Institute of Folk Art, Folklore, and Ethnology, Ukrainian Academy of 
Sciences), 2007.  175 pp.  ISBN: 978-966-02-4631-7 

 
What happens when a group of people leave a homeland that has 

been theirs for generations and move to a new home?  Does their folklore 
change or does it merely die out as people adapt to the new environment?  
Does folklore help prepare people for the trauma of relocation?  Does it 
help them adjust to their new home?  These and other questions are the 
subject of the growing field of Diaspora studies, one to which Fialkova 
has made a number of contributions.  Her latest work, published in 
Ukrainian, focuses on the many people from Ukraine who moved to 
Israel when such relocation became possible.   

After a brief introduction which tells about the study of Ukrainian-
Jewish folklore in Israel, Fialkova turns to the folklore itself.  The first 
section deals with the image of Jerusalem in Ukrainian folklore.  Using 
classic nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sources such as Kolessa, 
Hnatiuk, and Chubyns’kyi, Fialkova shows that a positive image of 
Jerusalem has existed in Ukrainian folklore for a long time.  Jerusalem is 
“a sacred place in a sacred time,” a model of sanctity, so that even Kyiv 
is referred to a “Jerusalem on earth.”  Did the positive image of 
Jerusalem beckon Ukrainian Jews to Israel?  Did it make the adjustment 
easier?  Fialkova does not really answer these questions, though her 
placing the Jerusalem chapter at the beginning of her book implies that 
the answer would be affirmative.  Additionally, her thorough 
examination of the Ukrainian material gives a solid foundation for 
further research. 

There are three chapters in the next section and, in the first, Fialkova 
takes a Ukrainian folk hero, a Robin Hood figure named Oleksa Dovbush 
and examines Jewish versions of legends about him.  In many senses, the 
Ukrainian Jews have made Dovbush their own.  Legends about 
Dovbush’s infancy show how his family was cared for by a rabbi and 
reinterpret his name in terms of Hebrew etymology to mean “hairy one,” 
a bear’s son type of hero.  Most important are stories about the adult 
Dovbush and his relationship to a Jewish religious figure and folk hero 
Bal-Shem-Tov.  In the legends, the two recognize each other’s powers, 
Bal-Shem-Tov acknowledging the strength and courage of the Ukrainian 
and Dovbush perceiving the Jew’s spiritual might.  It is Bal-Shem-Tov’s 

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ability to make mountains come together so that he can walk across them 
which yields the title of this book.   

Legends about treasure hidden in the catacombs under Odessa are 
the subject matter of the next chapter.  Fialkova was fortunate to 
accidentally encounter a spelunker who was an excellent story teller.  
She recorded his stories about the catacombs beneath Odessa and many 
other stories about caving in Ukraine.  The stories themselves are 
wonderful.  An especially intriguing narrative claims that one of the 
treasures hidden under Odessa was a miniature solid gold replica of the 
Titanic, given to one of the residents in gratitude for his help.  Fialkova 
fleshes out the oral versions she collected by giving parallel narratives 
from other sources and analyzing the material.  One is tempted to expand 
on her analysis and to say that the narratives are expressions of nostalgia 
for a homeland that is now buried by distance.  This homeland, like the 
treasures sighted in caves, is something that one hopes to find again, but 
cannot.     

While the catacombs chapter may picture Ukraine as a very 
attractive land, the Chornobyl one does the opposite.  Fialkova gives us 
an abundance of dark Chornobyl humor, some rhymed and some in 
prose, much of it from oral sources.  Interestingly, many of the fears 
expressed in Chornobyl jokes have to do with male reproductive 
capacity.  It is as if the Chornobyl jokes mark Ukraine as a land without a 
future, one that must be left behind if future generations are to live and 
prosper, or even be created in the first place.   

The last section of the book, called “The formation of a new 
Ukrainian Diaspora in Israel,” pays a great deal of attention to language 
issues and does not have that much to do with folklore.  The Ukrainian 
language is not surviving well in Israel.  A Ukrainian Diaspora thrives, 
however.  In this Diaspora, expressions of Ukrainian heritage take the 
form of material culture, including dolls and embroidered towels, some 
with combined Jewish-Ukrainian motifs and some with strictly Ukrainian 
ones.  All of these are illustrated with pictures.  Ukrainian heritage is 
expressed in social and cultural activities and Fialkova details all of 
these.  While this section may not focus on folklore, it helps us 
understand identity issues among the Ukrainians now living in Israel.  As 
such, it also helps us make sense of the folklore.    

Fialkova’s work offers both the folklore itself and the tools for 
analysis.  Her greatest virtue, I believe, is her familiarity with both East 
European and North American approaches to folklore.  This allows her to 
focus on genres that most East European scholars would ignore, such as 

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personal narratives and jokes.  And it also prompts her to collect and 
publish a number of folklore texts, something that tends not to be done in 
the politics- and theory-preoccupied West.  Fialkova’s book is a fun read, 
recommended to anyone with a knowledge of Ukrainian and Russian.   

 
Natalie Kononenko      
University of Alberta  
Edmonton 
Allberta 
Canada