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 time in which old myths break down in the light of new events...