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JEWISH HUMOR
The advent of Purim caused a noted Israeli rabbi to write an article about Jewish humor in a Hebrew journal. Having read his article I am inspired to write this article in English about the same subject.
There really is only a nebulous type of definition regarding Jewish humor. In Eastern Europe Jewish humor depended heavily upon the earthiness and myriad nuance of Yiddish, the lingua franca of the Jewish society.
There was a popular book written a number of decades ago by Leo Rosten called “The Joys of Yiddish.” It ended up being a collection of jokes - some hilarious, some indecent and many head-scratching.
The circumstances of the dire condition of Eastern European Jewry over centuries almost forced a type of humor upon that society. The humor was self-deprecating, always mildly sarcastic and totally ironic. It was meant to amuse and not to hurt.
It never targeted individuals per se but it was nevertheless a social commentary on society, the times and varied circumstances. It always had a dark side but it was not really depressing or too bitter. It acknowledged human foibles, even of great people and held them up to laughter but not to ridicule.
Probably the greatest example of Eastern European Jewish humor is to be found in the works of Shalom Aleichem who lived at the turn of the twentieth century. Mark Twain upon meeting him in New York during his visit to America remarked: “They say that I am the American Shalom Aleichem.”
In reality there was a great deal of similarity in their works for they both emphasized situational humor rather than out and out guffaw-producing stand alone jokes.
In American vaudeville and later in the famous Borscht Belt circuit, Jewish humor and Jewish comedians flourished. Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, the Marx Brothers, among others all went on to fame and fortune employing situational comedy that was common in Eastern European Jewish life. They were the natural heirs of the badchan – the jokester who appeared to perform publicly at Jewish weddings in Eastern Europe and the Purim Rav who was a fixture at all Purim festivities.
The badchan mocked the bride and groom, the institution of marriage itself, the in-laws and all of the foibles of family life. The Purim Rav pricked the balloon of pomposity of the religious leadership of the community.
They and their American descendants always portrayed themselves as somewhat nebbish, idiocentric, slightly daft characters. They took a look at life and its randomness and dangers and made fun of themselves as the ultimate defense weapon against such a world.
They really were the forerunners of the situation comedy programs that for a while dominated American television. In that respect Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano were all in the tradition of Eastern European Jewish humor whether they consciously intended to be so or not.
But probably such humor is common to the human race generally and not restricted to any particular ethnic group or society.
Laughter is a cure for many human ills and it is almost instinctive within us to want to laugh. Witness how babies learn to laugh and cackle so early in their development.
The Talmud itself has descriptions of many humorous and ironic situations and comments. It recommends to teachers to begin their classroom studies each day by employing humor. All public speakers will readily agree that beginning a talk with a humorous story will go a long way in winning the audience’s attention – and in holding their attention for the rest of the remarks.
The rise of stand-up comedy is really another form of the badchan’s performance at Jewish weddings. It is a far more difficult form to be successful at than the situational type of comedy which relies on the development of characters rather than rapid fire jokes.
But we see that both types of humor were very common in the Jewish world. Yiddish humor oftentimes bordered somewhat on the risqué but never really crossed the line of obscenity and immorality. Unfortunately the same certainly cannot be said of the type of humor that pervades the Western and Israeli general world today.
Perhaps that is why there is a decline in Jewish humor today in the religious world. People take themselves too seriously to be able to be self-deprecating - which was always the hallmark of Jewish humor.
At Jewish weddings, wild dancing and ear splitting music have replaced the badchan in most of the Jewish world today. Too bad. We could all use a good ironic look at ourselves every so often. But Purim is this week so maybe we will hear some good Purim Torah and Jewish jokes after all.
Happy Purim
Shabat shalom
Berel Wein
