This is a wonderful collection of stories! Each story has a short piece afterward to give background and questions to spark discussion. Very well done! I hope very much that Ms Gershator will do more with this rich material. ( )

Ten stories from the Talmud and Midrash retold, with changes, by Phillis Gershator. (At least she explains when she makes changes.) There is an introduction that talks about Talmud and Midrash and a glossary and brief history at the end of the terms mentioned and questions and comments after each story.

The stories are:
"Making It Rain" (Ta'anit, 23a-23b)
Two wise men are confused by the actions of Abba Hilkiah, Honi the Circle Maker's grandson, until he explains them.
(There are Elijah stories with the same idea, albeit different actions.)

"Figs for Gold" (Va-yikra Rabbah, 25:5)
The Emperor Hadrian is rewards an old gardener for his wise advice; the gardener's greedy neighbor tries to impress the Emperor with similar actions but fails.
The gardener plants a fig tree even though he is old and may not live to see its fruits; this story also appears elsewhere.
(In Taanit 23a Honi comes across an old man planting a tree; Honi tells him that he won't live to see it mature in 70 years. Honi then falls asleep for that long; when he awakens, no one knows him and his prayer for death is granted.)

"Hanina's Stone" (Kohelet Rabbah, 1:1)
Hanina Ben Dosa, a stonecutter and rabbi wants to present a beautiful gift to the Temple. Angels help deliver it.
He said, "All those whose deeds are more than their wisdom, their wisdom endures; all who please mankind with their deeds also please God." [p. 34]

"Teacher in the Cave" (Shabbat, 33b)
Shimon Bar Yohai defies the ban against teaching about Jewish traditions by the Emperor Hadrian (now a baddie) by hiding in a cave with the help of his students.
In her comments, Gershator mentions that he died on Lag ba-Omer. Also that after hiding in the cave for twelve years, when he emerges his anger at seeing farmers at their work set their crops on fire; a heavenly voice then instructs him to return to his cave for another year.

"Goats for Chickens" (Ta'anit, 25a)
A traveler leaves two chickens with Rabbi Hanina and his wife. When the traveler finally returns, he is presented with the flock of goats that were eventually acquired with the proceeds from the chickens' eggs. In the meantime, a neighbor complains that the goats are eating his grass. Hanina replies that if this is so that then a bear should eat them up, but if not, then each goat should return with a bear in its horns. The latter happens.
(This story is useful background when reading the Chelm or Hershel of Ostropol story---I.B. Singer and Eric A. Kimmel have versions---about the man borrows a silver spoon from his miserly neighbor and returns two spoons because, he says, the first spoon gave birth to the second. Alas, when the man borrows candlesticks, the miser is told that they died.)

"Everything for the Best" (Berachot, 60b)
Rabbi Akiva Ben Yosef says that everything God does is for the best even though while traveling must sleep outdoors, where his lamp blows out, his rooster is devoured, and his donkey runs off. In this case, he is saved from being found by Roman soldiers because of these events.
(I thought that this story was about Gamzu, so called because he always said, "Gam zu l'tovah," but according to Chabad.org I am wrong. (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112045/jewish/Nahum-Ish-Gamzu-and-....))

"What's Cooking?" (Ta'anit, 24b-25a)
Hanina Ben Dosa's wife burns twigs in her oven so that her neighbors won't know that she has no money make bread for Shabbat. But when a nosy neighbor looks in the oven, she sees bread baking.
Gershator adds to the story by having the rabbi's wife give her neighbor a loaf of the miraculous bread.
(Also, see https://books.google.com/books?id=vL-GoivPdtkC&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=T...)

"The Observant Cow" (Pesikta Rabbati, 14)
An observant Jew sells his cow to a gentile, who cannot get the cow to work on the seventh day until the previous owner whispers in the cow's ear that, now that he is owned by a non-Jew, he must work on Shabbat. The new owner is so impressed by the idea of a cow obeying God's commandments that he converts and becomes a great scholar, called Yochanan Ben Torta, which is Aramaic for "Yochanan, Son of the Cow."

"The Hat in the Fish" (Shabbat, 119a)
Joseph the Sabbath Man always honored Shabbat as best as his could with little money he earned. His rich neighbor is told by a fortune-teller that Joseph will consume his wealth. We know what will happen; his action to prevent this will of course lead to it happening; the rich man sells his property to buy a jewel, which he sews into a hat that falls into a river and is eaten by a fish that Joseph buys to celebrate the Sabbath.
(There are many books with this story, including Marilyn Hirsh's Joseph, Who Loved the Sabbath.)

"Wise and Wiser" (Bekhorot, 8b)
Two Athenians who at first find Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Hananiah ugly and dirty become more and more impressed by him as he answers their questions. When he is asked where the center of the universe is, Rabbi Yehoshua points up with his finger and says, "Right here." [p. 79] Gershator, in her comments after the story, quotes Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's explanation: "When a person does a good deed, a blessing descends from above." [p. 83]

Included in "About these words . . . Definitions," compiled by Janet Greenstein Potter, are these qualities for the patriarchs: Abraham - kindness, Isaac - justice, and Jacob - compassion. [p. 90] ( )