Wiesel, Elie (Vol. 165) - David Booth (essay date summer 1993)

David Booth (essay date summer 1993)

SOURCE: Booth, David. “The Role of the Storyteller—Sholem Aleichem and Elie Wiesel.” Judaism 42, no. 167 (summer 1993): 298-312.

[In the following essay, Booth explores the changing of Jewish mythology, comparing the work of Sholem Aleichem and Wiesel.]

The Aggadah is a Garden
Of such childlike airy fancy.
And the young Talmudic scholar—
When his heart felt dry and dusty,

Musty from noisy squabbling
over the Halakhah, over
Quarrels on the plaguy egg
That a hen laid on a feast day

Or about some other question
Equally profound—the youngster
Fled for solace of the spirit
To the blossom filled Agaddah

—Heinrich Heine, Hebrew Melodies1

Paul Fussell, in The Great War and Modern Memory, explores the manner in which literature functions to help communities maintain their cohesiveness in times of crisis. A crisis, for Fussell, is a...

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