ḤUMMASH

ḤUMMASH (Heb. חֻמָשׁ, "Pentateuch," from the root חָמֵשׁ, "five"), the first five books of the Bible. The ḥummash (pl. ḥummashim) is separately printed for use in the synagogue during the Reading of the Law when the worshipers follow individually the text of the section of the Pentateuch that is being read. It serves as a school text for Bible instruction and is usually printed with the Aramaic translation, Targum *Onkelos, and *Rashi's commentary. The more elaborate editions, called Mikra'ot Gedolot, also have the commentaries of Abraham *Ibn Ezra, *Naḥmanides, etc. In talmudic literature, the equivalent term for ḥummash is mikra (מִקְרָא), or Torah (תּוֹרָה), as distinct from the Prophets and the Writings. In modern times, ḥummashim with translations and commentary in the vernacular contributed to a more extensive knowledge of the Pentateuch (e.g., Samson Raphael *Hirsch's Pentateuch with English translation and commentary (6 vols., 1956–63), J.H. *Hertz's Pentateuch and Haftorahs (1962²), A. Cohen's Soncino Chumash (1964²)). In case of fire on the Sabbath, ḥummashim, even those printed in the vernacular, may be saved from the conflagration because they are considered to be "holy writings" (Shab. 16:1, also Sh. Ar., oḤ 334:12).

HUMOR

Definition

Jewish humor is the humor created by Jews, intended mainly for Jews, and reflecting special aspects of Jewish life. This broad definition includes popular, verbal humor, such as jokes or anecdotes as well as humor created by professionals. Since humor reflects a people's life, it changes and varies accordingly. Thus, one can talk about East European, Sephardi, American, or Israeli Jewish humor. In spite of the great differences in the life conditions of the different communities, Jewish humor has certain characteristics which make it unique. What is generally identified in the professional literature as Jewish humor originated in the 19^th century, mainly, but not exclusively, in Eastern Europe. Today in the U.S., Jewish humor is considered as one of the mainstreams of American humor.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, a sense of humor was not associated with Jewishness. Hermann Adler, the chief rabbi of London, felt impelled to write an article in 1893 in which he argued against the view that Jews have no sense of humor. It is perhaps interesting to note that not only Jews but non-Jews as well consider today "a good sense of humor" as one of the notable characteristics of Jews.

Historical Roots: The Bible and the Talmud

The Bible mentions "laughter" 50 times (as צחוק (ẓeḥok) or שחוק (seḥok)). Bible translators frequently used other terms instead of "laughter." In the English translation ẓeḥok is rendered as: play, enjoy, insult, mock, fondle, rejoice, scoff, and laugh. In addition to the relative frequency of laughter, many examples of humor appear in the Bible. Irony is evident in the question people asked Moses after he took them out of Egypt: "Because there was no grave in Egypt have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11). The same ironic touch is seen when Joseph's brothers who did not like him and his dreams decide to kill him: "We will say some evil beast devoured him and we shall see what will become of his dreams" (Genesis 37:19). Or Elisha talking sarcastically about a pagan god: "Cry aloud for he is a god, either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is on a journey or peradventure he sleeps and must be awakened" (i Kings 18:27). Self-irony and laughter are expressed by Sarah: "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" (Genesis 18:12). Her son was named Isaac (Yiẓḥak, i.e., he shall laugh).

Many references to laughter, humorous tales, and rules about joking appear in the Talmud. It seems that talmudic sages were able to differentiate between "laughing at" and "laughing with." While formal prohibitions to "laugh at" are frequently mentioned, other views, where the accent is on "laughing with," is encouraged. There is an explicit talmudic dictum: "Rabbi Naḥman says, all joking is prohibited except jokes about idol worship" (Meg. 25b). Here the point is to "laugh at," what in modern terms would be considered aggressive humor. But laughter was also considered positive: "Tears of sadness are bad, tears of laughter are beautiful" (Shab. 151b–152a). The first book of research relating humor to education was written in 1979 in France. It demonstrated what appeared already in the Talmud: "Before starting to teach, Rabbah joked and pupils laughed, afterwards he started seriously teaching halakhah" (Shab. 30b).

More important, however, is the way of thinking the learning of Talmud encouraged. From the first century on, Jewish boys, whose education began at kindergarten age, learned by examining things from all angles and by speculating; they were encouraged to find contradictions, too. The passing from concrete to abstract and vice versa and the asking of all possible questions to clarify a point and find the most subtle answers to complex problems were appreciated. This very way of thinking was highly valued and is considered by some literary critics as one basis of Jewish literature of all times. This method of problem solving, the examination of all possible (and sometimes impossible) solutions, is one of the mental traits encouraged by generations of students of Talmud, who passed it on influencing even those who nowadays are far from talmudic studies. The talmudic way of thinking, seeing the contradictions, and incongruities, and finding surprising solutions are important ingredients in any humor creation. It is probably one of the reasons for the great number of Jewish humorists.

From the Middle Ages to Emancipation

The religious tradition with its study of the Bible and Talmud was the main intellectual occupation of Jews in the Diaspora. Humor and satire attack what is accepted, and this could not be permitted in the study of religious writing. However, sensing the importance of the need for some humorous relief, certain liberties were admitted and even encouraged. Thus once a year, on Purim, it was permissible not to be serious and drinking was highly recommended. The gaiety found its expression in the "Purim spiel." A Purim rabbi was chosen, his behavior being a caricature of the real rabbi. He gave illogical and funny "rabbinical decisions" to the great delight of his listeners, including the rabbi. However, this was for one day only; immediately afterwards, the community got back again to serious studies, until the following Purim.

Slowly, Jews enriched their talmudic folklore and stories by adopting popular folk stories from their environment. Many of these stories accorded with the psychological need to mock inferiors, creating stories about idiots and simpleminded peasants. These new "heroes" were also sometimes used to make fun of the Christians, fulfilling the aggressive function of humor and giving some form of relief to the persecuted Jews.

In Spain under Arab rule, Jews knew a literary Golden Age. Among the many writers on both religious and secular themes, humorists and satirists were greatly appreciated. One of them, Abraham *Ibn Ezra who lived in the 12^th century, used sophisticated self-disparaging humor. In "Out of Luck," he writes about his misfortune:

The heavenly sphere and the constellations strayed from their path when I was born. If my business were in candles, the sun would not set until I died! However I struggle, I cannot succeed, for my stars have ruined me: if I were a dealer in shrouds, no one would die as long as I lived.

This can be considered as the ancestor of the anti-hero, the schlemiel (Yid.) or shlumiel (Heb.), who when meeting hardships and disaster, instead of crying and lamenting, is able to see the laughter in the situation. Taking one's distance from one's unhappiness, looking at it with irony, is a way of coping with it, an attitude later to become the hallmark of many Jewish humorists.

Judah ben Solomon *Al-Ḥarizi (1170–1235) was one of the great poets of medieval Hebrew literature. He used a humorous literary style typical of Arab medieval literature. He was the author of Taḥkemoni which consisted of 50 makamat, a narrative in rhymed prose. Some of his many writings are erotic ones where examples of sexual humor, so rare in Hebrew, can be found. He is considered a precursor of the picaresque novel. Al-Ḥarizi also introduced the "Mosaic style" in which he used partial quotations from the Bible and Talmud, completely out of context, to create humorous effects.

In Italy, *Immanuel of Rome (c. 1260–1328) wrote parodies of the Bible and Talmud which amused those who knew the original (and in those times, they were numerous). His Maḥbarot of Immanuel was prohibited by some Italian rabbis because of its erotic content.

Other satirists of the Middle Ages included *Judah ben Isaac ibn Shabbetai (who wrote Hebrew satires, Minḥat Yehudah Sone ha-Nashim ("The Gift of Judah the Misogynist") and Milḥemet ha-Ḥokhmah ve-ha-Osher ("Strife of Wisdom and Wealth")), *Jedidiah Bedersi ha-Penini (who wrote a reply to "The Gift of Judah the Misogynist"), and Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, who lived in 14^th-century Italy. Kalonymus wrote Massekhet Purim ("Tractate Purim"), a satirical work which mocks many halakhic teachings. For instance, "Rabbi Abraham used to say: According to a tradition coming from my ancestors, the one who does not enjoy the pleasure of this life, will not join in the pleasures of the world to come; but the one who enjoys the pleasures of this life, will also enjoy pleasures in the world to come." Or, ironically about Purim: "Children are taught about Purim. What are they taught? To fight… so that if they live to the day of the arrival of the Messiah, they will be good in the arts of wars and will be able to fight the wars of the Lord."

Judah *Sommo (c. 1527–1592) wrote The Comedy of Betrothal (ẓaḥut Bediḥuta de-Kiddushin) which is considered by some as a precursor of Moliere's The Miser. Written c. 1550, it is considered by J. *Schirmann as the first Hebrew play.

Famous Humorous Folkloristic Figures

The ḥasidic movement, which started in Eastern Europe in the middle of the 18^th century, saw the relation with God as a joyful one, and the ḥasidim loved to laugh, sing, and dance. This was a departure from the traditional forms of Jewish worship. Ḥasidic sages often used irony and wit to illustrate their points, this certainly adding to their popularity. Some rabbis had court jesters, and Hershele *Ostropoler (1770–1810) fulfilled this role for Rabbi Baruch of Medzibezh (Southern Russia). The rabbi suffered from acute depression and as a defense mechanism promulgated the principle "it is sinful to be sad." As legend has it, Hershele was called upon to cure the rabbi of his depressive moods by making him laugh. Hershele was a simpleton only on surface; he frequently expressed deep truths in a humoristic way. Many Yiddish penny books were written about Hershele who delighted the simple people by his jokes and satires against religious hypocrites, rich misers, and pompous people. He is still a popular figure in many children's jokes in Israel.

Motke Ḥabad (see dc/17:472) was a jester to Yudel Opatov of Vilna and Reb Yossifel the spiritual leader of Chelm became a folk hero. Chelm was for the Jews what Abdera was for the Greeks, Gotham for the English, and Schilda for the Germans: a place populated by naive, talkative, and not very bright people. An example of a Chelm story tells of the old shammes (sexton) who complained that he was too old and tired to make the round of all Jewish homes banging on the shutters to wake the men up for the midnight services. The wise men of Chelm discussed the problem in a specially called assembly. And they finally found it: all shutters would be brought to one place, near the shammes' home so that he could bang on all of them without having to make the tiresome trip around the shtetl. The men of Chelm always found a theoretically perfect solution having only one disadvantage: it was not practical. But why should one worry about the practical aspects of a problem? Great intellects should be involved in intellectual solutions!

The maggidim were itinerant preachers who from talmudic times, in expounding Jewish law and tradition, introduced many humorous stories, knowing that they would thereby be more easily comprehended and even enjoyed by their listeners. They were active and very popular during the Middle Ages and before Emancipation. The most famous among them was Jacob ben Wolf *Kranz of Dubnow.

The badḥanim were the merry makers at Jewish weddings which were happy events not only for the family but for the entire community. Frequently, the festivities lasted for many days and became a sort of carnival with music, joking, and dancing. Here probably one can find the beginning of the stand-up comic, made so popular by Jews in the United States. In addition, the Jewish marriages had leẓim and marshalik. The leẓ was a musician-juggler and the marshalik was the master of ceremonies.

A new type of Jewish folklore appeared in which the confrontation with the gentiles provided the occasion to demonstrate how clever Jews are. Humor here fulfilled one of its main functions – imaginary superiority. In addition a new humorist appeared in Jewish humor: the rabbi. In ḥasidic humor, rabbis made jokes on people's little failings, generally with a didactic flavor.

Emancipation and the Beginning of Modern Jewish Humor

Emancipation in Western Europe created great opportunities for Jews to integrate into the dominant culture, but a strong ambivalence emerged among those who wanted to integrate and stay Jewish at the same time. Some, such as Heine, decided to convert but his lack of satisfaction was evident in the use of self-irony even against conversion: "I wouldn't trust the sincerity of a Jew who converted to Christianity; no Jew can truly believe in the holiness of another Jew." For German Jews trying to assimilate, self-disparaging humor become a way of showing the Christians that they, the "real German Jews," were different from the other "ugly Jews." By making fun of Jews and developing the stereotyped image of cheaters, liars and people thinking only about money these Jews administered a kind of self-punishment to themselves. By poking fun at the obscurantist (or what seemed to them as so), traditionalist behavior unfit for modern times, they tried to change themselves and their coreligionists. They wanted to create a new image for the Jews, which would be more acceptable to them, the "enlightened ones," as well as to the Christians. In order to do that, they tried to destroy the image of the "primitive Jew" by making it ludicrous, by laughing at it. This was probably the main origin of Jewish self-disparaging humor in Western Europe.

The hallmark of the Enlightenment (Haskalah) literature was satire. Using mainly humor to change a people's way of life is probably unique in the history of social changes. The Haskalah writers produced a rich satirical literature in Hebrew, many of their works being still highly readable today. It was directed mainly against the Orthodox traditionalists, producing in addition some virulent satire against the Ḥasidim.

satiric humor of the enlightenment

The Enlightenment brought many changes in the Jewish way of thinking. The conflicts between Haskalah, the Mitnaggedim, and Hasidism, the three mainstreams of Jewish thought, provoked a wonderful renaissance of Hebrew and Yiddish writings. The lively battle between Haskalah and Hasidism was conducted by writers, who often used humorous satire as a weapon against the ideological "enemy." The fact that satire was the main weapon is an additional affirmation of the importance of humor in Jewish life.

Two main currents can be identified in the satirical writings encouraged by the Haskalah movement. The first was virulent satire, sometimes even vitriolic, in which tradition, the "unhealthy and unproductive" life of the Jews, was attacked. The second current viewed the traditional life in the shtetl in a loving way, albeit with mild criticism, as the result of recognizing the fact that the wonderful ideas of the Haskalah would not easily change Jewish fate; this type of literature was written mainly in Yiddish.

Haskalah authors used Hebrew as well as Yiddish in order to get their message to the greatest number of readers. This was not an easy endeavor since Yiddish was considered by most maskilim a "lower language."

When Mendel *Levin (Lefin) translated the book of Proverbs into Yiddish (1814), the outcry of other maskilim was terrible. Tobias Feder (1760–1817), author of a parody of the Zohar entitled Zohar Ḥadash, wrote a satire in which he described the disciples of Moses Mendelssohn talking in heaven. A disciple informs them that someone has translated the book of Proverbs into a peasant gibberish. Nobody wants to believe that this terrible thing was done by one of Mendelssohn's followers, but when Lefin's translation is shown to them, they decide to burn it.

Joseph *Perl was an outstanding exponent of fighting satire. He imitated so well the stylistic manner of the ḥasidim that the most naive among them accepted his books as reflecting the truth. Since they told stories of machinations and intrigues at the ḥasidic courts and of love of money and power struggles without any thought about simple people, those who believed Perl's satire became disillusioned with the ḥasidic movement.

Other outstanding Haskalah period satirists were Israel *Axenfeld (1787–1866), who wrote strong satires against the manipulation of simple people by the wonder rabbis whom he described as drunken quacks; Solomon *Ettinger who wrote clever moralistic fables; and Abraham Baer *Gottlober (1811–1899) who also wrote strong satire against ḥasidic behavior.

the period of loving satire

"Loving satire" is an original Jewish approach to satire. While satire is directed "against" persons, institutions, or concepts, Jewish satire of the shtetl is a kind of critical identification with the people. While they are laughable, the little people (kleine mentshele) are understood, loved, and even admired – not for their lifestyle but for their inner qualities. Their tragedies and hardships are encountered with an understanding smile. "Laughing through tears" is the main weapon. The Jewish writers of the 19^th century made this laughter part of the continuing Jewish heritage of fighting adversity with humor.

One of the greatest Yiddish writers of late 19^th–early 20^th century, was Sholem Yankev *Abramovitsh, better known as Mendele Mokher Seforim (Mendele the Bookseller). Having achieved a certain fame in Hebrew writing, he decided to turn to Yiddish in order to reach the masses. His tales became popular and his humor, satirical at first but getting milder later, described Jewish life in the shtetl with love and understanding of the "little people."

His first satirical pieces attacked the religious leaders who were getting fat from the taxes imposed on Jews. His many other works included satires such as "The Nag," an allegory of the Jew as the world's scapegoat, and "Fishke the Lame," in which Jewish beggars, thieves, and vagabonds were described with their rich characters, a mixture of naivete and shrewdness, kind and joyful in spite of the wretched conditions in which they lived. In his unfinished epic "Travels of Benjamin the Third," he made fun of the impractical dreamers, determined to change the world and not able to cope with daily life. His Jewish characters are "besservaisser" – not "knowing it all" but "knowing it all better." They indulge in endless discussions, real feasts of pilpul in spite of their miserable economic conditions. Mendele's humor was a mixture of satire and irony with identification, love, and understanding for the little people who, in spite of the difficult lives they led, had an innate nobility and dreamt about higher ideas, always proud to be Jews.

*Shalom Aleichem (1859–1916) was the greatest humorist in all of Jewish literature. His immortal characters, life in the shtetl Kasrilevka which he invented, and overall his atttitude of looking at sad things with humor, made him the best loved and most popular of Jewish writers. His irony is bitter-sweet and his characters, in spite of their naive behavior, are always lovable. Shalom Aleichem does not laugh at them, but brings the reader to laugh with them.

He expressed his philosophy on humor as a way of fighting human suffering in a letter addressed to a friend. In it he wrote: "This is an ugly and mean world, and only to spite it we mustn't weep. If you want to know, this is the constant source of my good spirit, of my 'humor.' Not to cry, out of spite. Only to laugh out of spite, only to laugh." His heroes lead a difficult life but they know how to smile at adversity and always keep on hoping. His best character is Tevye the Milkman, the wise but simple Jew, honest and hard working, who holds discussions with God in whom he believes with fervor, despite a few questions concerning the way He deals with His chosen people. He tries to be rational at all times, but his emotions are always more important and dictate his behavior. His optimistic conclusions are that although things are pretty bad, one should rejoice because they could be worse.

Here is how he described Kasrilevka, the "town of little people":

Among us Jews poverty has many faces and many aspects. A poor man is an unlucky man, he is a pauper, a beggar, a schnorrer, a starveling, a tramp, or a plain failure. A different tone is used in speaking of each one, but all these names express human wretchedness. However, there is still another name – kasril, or kasrilik. That name is spoken in a different tone altogether, almost a bragging tone. For instance, "Oh, am I ever a kasrilik!" A kasrilik is not just an ordinary pauper, a failure in life. On the contrary, he is a man who has not allowed poverty to degrade him. He laughs at it. He is poor, but cheerful.

Other heroes of Shalom Aleichem figure among the most lovable figures of Jewish literature. Motl Peyse the cantor's son who lives cheerfully and even when his father dies sees some good in becoming an orphan. Menachem Mendel, the eternal luftmentsch, who dreams about getting rich in the great city, but whose heart belongs to the shtetl. Mendel is the archetype schlemiel, the hero of Jewish humor, the eternal loser who rationalizes his failures and keeps his optimism. Fishel the Melamed, Aleck the Mechanic, Kopel the Brain, Mendel the Tinman were all part of the miserable but lovable characters of the shtetl. The art of Shalom Aleichem, the virtuosity with which he could describe the most terrible situations with humor can be seen from a letter brimming with current, as well as some not-so-fresh information, one of his heroes writes to a distant cousin who left the shtetl:

Dear Yankel; you asked me to write at length, and I would like to oblige, but there is really nothing to write about. The rich are still rich; and the poor are dying of hunger as they always do. What's new about that? And as far as pogroms are concerned, thank God we have nothing more to fear as we've already had ours – two of them in fact, and a third wouldn't be worthwhile. You asked about Heshel. He's been out of work now for over half a year. The fact is they won't let them work in prison. Mendel did a clever thing: he upped and died, some say of consumption, others of hunger. Personally, I think he died of both. I really don't know what else to write about, except for the cholera which is going great guns.

This is a perfect example of one of the main characteristics of Jewish humor as a way of coping: the twisting around of and giving an original interpretation to a traumatic experience. Thus, instead of crying at reality, one can laugh at the mangled interpretation. A rational description could only lead to despair, an absurd approach to "there is not much to write about" for an instant obscures reality, which could do nothing better than to lead to total dejection. Antirationalism is the only rational answer to the irrationality of events.

Yiddish theater also started to flourish near the end of the 19^th century. Since the Russians banished Yiddish theater (1883) fearing that it would encourage revolutionary sentiment, it developed in other European countries, and later in the United States. Abraham *Goldfaden (1840–1908) is considered the father of the Yiddish theater. The first theatrical representation in Yiddish took place in Jassy, Romania, in October 1872 and met with immense success. His troupe, in which there were also actresses (a great innovation) toured Romania and Russia (until the ban). Then, Yiddish theater emigrated to Paris, London, and New York. Among his many plays, the most successful comedies were Shmendrik and Kuni Lemel. Both names became familiar terms and were integrated into the daily language. A shmendrik is gullible, not vicious or vengeful, well used to failure which he accepts with a smile; Kuni Lemel stutters, is lame, and is always in trouble, but never takes his fate tragically.

The great popularity of Mendele, Shalom Aleichem, and many other Yiddish writers of the period, influenced and was influenced by Jewish folklore. This rich folklore was an expression of a common faith in which witty anecdotes, jokes, and sayings were a sign of reciprocal recognition. Some examples of the irony and wit are still treasured by many Jews who are no longer familiar with Yiddish, but recognize in these sayings part of the Jewish heritage. Here are some of the more popular ones:

God will provide, but if only He would provide until He provides.

Dying while you are young is a great boon in your old age.

If the rich could hire the poor to die for them, the poor would make a very good living.

What God does is best – probably.

Our rabbi is so poor that if he didn't fast every Monday and Thursday, he'd starve to death.

When things don't get better, don't worry, they may get worse.

If you can't help a friend with money, at least give a krekhts (sigh).

If God lived on earth, people would knock out all His windows.

The age of gold was the age when gold did not rule.

Illusions are comforting; just don't act upon them.

It's no disgrace to be poor – which is the only good thing you can say about it.

After the 1881 pogroms, the massive emigration of the Jews to America ended a chapter of Jewish humor. Until then this humor had been written only for Jews; the languages used, Hebrew and Yiddish, were not understood by others. In the new world as well as in Europe the language of the host country became the language of Jewish humor, strongly penetrating the dominant culture, especially in the United States.

Jewish Humor in the United States

The massive emigration from Eastern Europe to America brought the main stream of Jewish culture, traditions, and humor to the new land. Since English was not easy to learn, Yiddish continued to be the language used by the first generation and writing in Yiddish was popular for a certain time. Moshe *Nadir (1885–1943), the pen name of Isaac Reis, was a humorist "in the old tradition." He edited two humorous periodicals, Der Groyser Kundes and Der Yidishe Gazlen, which were very popular. He was considered the greatest Jewish humorist since Shalom Aleichem. Abraham Kotlier and Gerson Rosenzweig were other early satirists.

At a later date, the difficulties in learning English for a Jewish emigrant were humorously described by Leo *Rosten, whose The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (1937) became a small classic. The chutzpah of Kaplan, a "know it all," sure of himself while making the funniest and most terrible mistakes in the mastering of language, was a great addition to the gallery of schlemiels in the New World. Rosten, very much under the influence of Yiddish, pointed out the richness of this language and how it influences English. He wrote about the "Yiddishization" of English, a phenomenon which can be easily observed in many American comedies. Not only are many Yiddish words used in American comedies, but the intonation and the ironic inflections can be easily traced back to folk Yiddish humor.

As Jews started to improve their economic situation, they took time for vacations, a new habit for Jews. Hotels in the Catskills and Poconos around New York, known as "The Borscht Belt," became famous. Many great comedians, among them Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Moss Hart, Danny Kaye, and Phil Silvers started their careers there. The humor they created was aimed at the Jewish audience, with a lot of "inner cultural" jokes, in which Yiddish had a place of honor beside English. Yiddish theater also flourished, with many comedies which enjoyed a huge popularity.

Gradually more and more Jewish comedians and humorists started their career in English and their impact on American humor was, and still is, tremendous. Jewish humor had opened itself to the American public. The "crazy" humor of these newcomers on the American scene was best illustrated in the shows of the *Marx Brothers in which absurdity took over, destroying in an extremely funny way the laws of logic, lampooning the dominant culture. The films of the Marx Brothers, the Ritz Brothers, and the three Stooges were the expression of "gleeful nihilism," readily accepted and enjoyed by the American public. S.J. *Perelman, a star writer for the New Yorker, also wrote a few of the famous Marx Brothers movies. Any list of American humorists and comic actors is largely Jewish.

Research has shown that among the most famous nationally known humorists in America, 80% are Jewish, while Jews represent only 3% of the American population. This tremendous contribution is related to the fact that humor is a way of expression familiar to Jews and related to their heritage. In addition, many of the American Jewish humorists feel the anxieties of being part of a society which does not accept them totally. Wanting to be Americans and Jews at the same time is not always easy. There are no dangers of physical annihilation, but there are signs of cultural assimilation. As Mel Brooks expressed it, when asked about the sources of his comedy: "It comes from the feeling that, as a Jew and a person, you don't fit into the mainstream of American society. It comes from the realization that even if you are better and smarter, you'll never belong." Brooks is proud of his Jewishness and relates frequently to it. He had the "chutzpah" to put on the screen American Indians who talked Yiddish and to discover to his great surprise that the lines were received with great laughter even in middle America. His feelings towards Germans after the Holocaust are expressed in the many sadistic German characters which populate his movies. When asked in an interview if he hates Germans, he answered: "Me? Not like Germans? Why should I not like Germans? Just because they are arrogant and have fat necks and do anything they're told as long as it's cruel and killed millions of Jews in concentration camps and made soap out of their bodies and lamp shades out of their skins? Is that any reason to hate them?" This irony, the effort to express tragedy in a humorous way reminds us not only in content but also in the form of expression of the writings of Shalom Aleichem.

Woody Allen in his movies made the Jewish schlemiel a lovable character to many people around the world. His Jewish person is so unmistakable that even when the character he plays is not identified as such, one cannot miss his Jewishness. In one of his early monologues he tells us that "Mr. Berkowitz was shot, stuffed, and mounted in the New York Athletic Club. And the joke is on them, 'cause it's restricted." The American society refusing to accept Jews as they are is frequently made fun of, but so are the Jews themselves who forget their Jewishness. When a very assimilated rabbi is asked why Jewish people are not allowed to eat pork, he answers "We're not? Uh-oh." Then, comes the explanation that "some scholars believe that the Torah merely suggested not eating pork at certain restaurants." Even God is the object of ironic comment such as "Yom Kippur is the sacred Jewish holiday commemorating God's reneging on every promise." Allen's main theme is alienation, as a Jew, but also as a human being. His sadness and loneliness is expressed in a humorous way meeting tragedy with a continuous optimism and continuing the struggle without ever giving up, against all odds. Obviously, Allen enjoys being an outsider and he contributes towards making the Jewish condition of being an outsider in America a deep human experience understandable both for Jews and non-Jews.

The Jewish American writers who use humor, have also had a tremendous influence on American literature. They introduced the "laughter through tears" and the self-disparaging character of the schlemiel into many of their works. They use both the psychological mechanism of assimilation (adapting to one's environment) and of accommodation (modifying the environment to one's needs). Two of them even received the Nobel Prize for literature. One, the most famous Yiddish writer in the United States, is Isaac Bashevis *Singer. He wrote a story about an immortal schlemiel, "Gimpel the Fool," living in the legendary shtetl. Gimpel was the laughing stock of everybody in the shtetl because he was so naive that he believed everything people told him. But Gimpel was not as gullible as he seemed; as he himself said he did not really believe them but he thought that by making himself a believer in their stories, he would at least be liked. This is one of the additional main motives in the psychology of the schlemiel which appears so frequently in Jewish humor: make yourself a bit ridiculous and people will like you. This aspect of the schlemiel became more and more important in American Jewish humor.

The second Nobel Prize winner, using humor in the best Jewish tradition, is Saul Bellow. Many of his heroes remind us of characters in Shalom Aleichem. Of course they are more complex, richer in their struggle for self-understanding and search for meaning, but they are described with warm irony. In the way Moses Elchanan Herzog, one of the most classic schlemiels in American literature, describes his father, one recognizes a Menachem Mendel in the New World: "In 1913 he bought a piece of land near Valleyfield, Quebec, and failed as a farmer. Then he came into town and failed as a baker; failed in the dry-goods business; failed as a jobber; failed as a sack manufacturer in the War, when no one else failed. He failed as a junk dealer. Then he became a marriage broker and failed – too short tempered and blunt. And now he was failing as a bootlegger, on the run from the Provincial Liquor Commission. Making a bit of a living."

Bellow in Herzog explains the influences of the Jewish family, the mother's use of love as a means of pushing and the inevitable emotional failure, because one never can be so marvelous as mother expects. And of course no one can be so much adored as a Jewish boy in his family.

The Jewish mother theme was humorously depicted many times by American Jewish writers, from Dan Greenburg's How to be a Jewish Mother to Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. All these strong, loving, blackmailing ladies with exaggerated expectations are adored, feared, and seen either as great motivators for social success or as provoking emotional failure. Most Jewish American heroes in comedy are deeply human, complex, anti-heroes who win the readers' or spectators' love because of the emotions they express. They are not the tight-lipped, super-macho cowboys nor the tough-fighter, strong silent types, so familiar to American folklore. They are complex, recognizing their fragility, introspecting with great volubility, and above all striving to be a real mentsh. Probably their acceptance by the American public is due to their maturity and recognition that the strength of human beings does not lie only in showing how strong they are, but that there is also some strength in weakness, in accepting it as part of us and living with it, continuing to be optimistic even in the most difficult moments, and being able to laugh at ourselves. Bruce Jay Friedman's "Stern," Malamud's "Fiedelman," Joseph Heller's "Gold," and Mel Brooks's "Two-thousand-year-old Man," all have these characteristics, celebrated by Jewish humor.

Jewish Humor in Israel

There is no better proof concerning the classic question, "Does humor represent national characteristics?" than a comparison of the development of Jewish humor in Israel and the Diaspora. While Jewish humor in 19^th-century Europe and 20^th-century America became famous and is considered as one of the positive aspects of the Jewish stereotype, in Israel it changed rapidly. As Jews in Israel changed their ideals, behavior and self-perception, so did the famous Jewish humor. Israeli humor has little in common with Jewish humor of the Diaspora. Israeli character has seemed to change, and with it, the humor of the Israelis who are no longer so enchanted with themselves, and are even able to see the ridiculous in their life and behavior. A real "hero" cannot accept seeing himself as a schlemiel and fervent – almost fanatical – belief in the realization of a national ideal is not inducive to regarding oneself as funny. The extreme seriousness of the pioneers wanting to build not only a "new homeland" but also a "new Jew," did not leave much place for self-disparagement. But, still, it has proved not so easy to forget almost two millennia of cultural background in the Diaspora – as the founders of Modern Israel so desired. The relatively short history of Israel can be divided into four periods:

1. Before Independence;
2. From Independence to the Six-Day War (1948–1967);
3. From the Six-Day War to the Lebanon war (1967–1982);
4. After the Lebanon war.

before independence

Between 1880 and World War i, a few thousand dreamers went to the Promised Land as idealistic pioneers. They wanted to build a Jewish homeland, but also to rebuild themselves, create a Jew as different as possible from the galut (Diaspora) type.

Jews from Europe brought with them their tradition of Jewish humor, and satirical theaters and humorous newspapers flourished. This is remarkable when one remembers that the papers were written in Hebrew, and the plays were interpreted by actors few of whom knew the language very well. Moreover, the Hebrew speaking population was a small minority.

Humorous newspapers in Hebrew appeared in the 1920s. The first satirical newsletter was published by Avigdor Hameiri, who also founded the first satirical theater in Palestine. Various such journals made their appearance, most of them shortlived. Cartoonists started to publish their work in these journals as well as in daily newspapers. The tendency to accept political cartoons, but not cartoons depicting or poking fun at life in general, is still very much alive in Israel today. Yoseph Bass, Aryeh Navon and Nardi were the best known cartoonists of the period before independence.

Satirical theater in Hebrew started in 1927 with the foundation of Ha-Kumkum ("The Kettle") intended to "scald the Yishuv, with the Kettle's steam." The second satirical theater, Ha-Matate ("The Broom") which started in 1928 was frequently used to mock the British, in spite of their censorship.

Israeli humor in this period followed the tradition of European Jewish humor. However one new form of humor was created by the new Israeli generation which was the backbone of the army. The Palmaḥ was considered the elite of the Haganah, Israel's unofficial army, and the humor created in its ranks reflected their life, gently making fun of the inner problems of the army and of course of the British. The jokes were of the tall story kind and rather long; tales in which popular figures, who later became legends, did their tricks. These stories, created in the 1940s, were published in the 1950s in Yalkutha-Kezavim. In Yalkut, the heroes were manly, poking fun at everything, accomplishing fantastic, greatly exaggerated feats, and convinced that they were supermen representing the new Yishuv. Difficulties were easily solved by the naive know-all of the heroes. They were capable of besting the English troops who were dumb and credulous. The stories were not satire but kind humor, accepting and admiring the little foibles of the heroes. It was clear for the writers, that those Palmaḥ kids were the best, most noble, and true elite of the new Jewish society in Palestine. The main characteristics of the story (the chiz-bat) were as follows: It was somewhat lengthy, told to a group around the fire, and contained a kernel of truth. Many Arabic words were used and almost no Yiddish or European languages. While the punch line was not very original, it created an atmosphere of group cohesiveness and a folklore of "private jokes" enjoyed by those who belonged. The heroes were often soldiers, shomerim (guards), and kibbutzniks. The main victim was the greenhorn, emphasizing probably the idea that the newcomers are not really "in." In a land based on immigration this kind of joking probably helped to create a kind of elite. This reflected a new way of life, a folklore of the army which was as unknown to the Jews as the army itself.

from independence to the six-day war

The creation of the State of Israel was accompanied by the rise of a bureaucracy and a slow disappearance of the great idealistic ideas. Proud of their accomplishments, Israelis developed behavioral characteristics as different as possible from the galut image. Being tough, serious, proud of every bit of what was going on in Israel, was the order of the day. George Mikes expressed some astute observations about the Israelis in his book Milk and Honey (1950). Among them, one typical of Jewish irony was:

If you want to get on with the Israelis, praise them. It is silly to praise people behind their backs. Not very manly either. Tell them openly to their faces that you think they are wonderful. Have the courage to insist that they are admirable, brave, brilliant, efficient, noble and inimitable. At first, I thought such statements might embarrass them. But not at all. They do not mind them. They can face the truth. They say it themselves.

An atmosphere of self-importance does not breed humor, but nevertheless, a kind of humor developed which was a stranger to East European humor. Its roots were mostly aggressive and new negative stereotypes were created with each wave of immigration. Romanians were the butts of jokes concerning their honesty, Moroccans for using knives too easily, Germans for being dense, and so on. This reflected the "scapegoat principle" according to which people need to consider others laughable in order to feel superior themselves. Jews who for generations had been the targets for the mockery of others had to find victims, and these they found among themselves.

Rapidly, the new bureaucrats and politicians became the favorite target. There was a gradual passage from great admiration for the leaders to a more critical view. For the young Israelis, the practical aspect of the realization of their ideals proved unpalatable. Pioneering asceticism was replaced by a desire for personal gains and luxuries. Egalitarian ideology was considered a thing of the past and instead of wanting to be an exemplary state, most Israelis – especially the young ones – wanted to be just normal, not better than others, and certainly not worse.

The 1956 Sinai Campaign with its quick military victory bolstered the Israelis' self-confidence – and their arrogance – even more. The tough guy, who never talks about emotions or weaknesses, was reinforced. Humor was rather pale and rare on Israeli radio (television was not yet introduced) and in the newspapers.

Haaretz published the daily column Uzi ve-Shutafav ("Uzi and his partners") written by Benjamin Tammuz and later by Amos Kenan. Maariv started Ḥad Gadya by Ephraim Kishon. The literary journal Masa started publishing installments of Yalkut ha-Kezavim by Haim Hefer and Dahn Ben-Amotz. The humor of this period was mostly the work of newcomers from Europe, notably Hungarians. Foremost among them was Ephraim Kishon, a well-known humorist in Hungary prior to his going to Israel. When he arrived in Israel he did not know a word of Hebrew. Within a short time his mastery of the language was such that he introduced into it many innovations which were rapidly picked up by his readers. His output was extraordinary. Not only did he have a daily column in the most popular daily in Israel, but he wrote successful theater comedies which were produced in Israel and many other countries, and wrote and directed outstanding film comedies which won him international recognition (The Policeman was nominated for an Oscar as best foreign movie). Kishon's satire was mild and loving, considering the people he attacked were more like schlemiels than cruel and bad people. Other Israelis of Hungarian origin who were noted humorists included the journalist Josef (Tomi) Lapid and the cartoonists Dosh (Katriel Gardosh), who created a popular little Israeli who became a national symbol, and Ze'ev (Ya'akov Farkas), a sharp political satirist. Since most humor of this period was created by newcomers from Eastern Europe who brought with them the humorous style prevalent there and who were enchanted with being in Israel, their work was gentle and beloved.

from the six-day war to the lebanon war

The Six-Day War changed the self-image of most Israelis and probably of many Jews around the world. Suddenly the little David slaughtered Goliath anew and started to believe in himself as some kind of superman. Israelis became conquerors, having acquired considerable territories, maintaining more than one million Arabs under military rule.

The general euphoria did not silence the dissidents who started asking questions about the morality of being a conqueror and often used the medium of a bitter humor. Malkatha-Ambatia ("Queen of the Bath"), the first satirical play after the Six-Day War, vigorously attacked the Israeli political establishment and its policies concerning the occupied territories. Hanoch Levin, the author of the play, was at such odds with the general consensus that his play was performed only 19 times and abandoned due to the public outcry.

However, Levin's satire was followed by other humorous critical looks at Israeli realities. The new medium of television brought lively satire into everybody's home. The weekly program, entitled Nikkui Rosh ("Cleaning the Head"), was written by a new generation of humorists. Israel-born, they did not look at the country as a miracle but as a fact which can be criticized, a reality with good and bad aspects. Humor was never accepted by Israeli politicians as a normal part of the country's life. This was because most Israeli humor during this period was political, the politicians appearing as liars, cheats, and desirous of holding on to power.

The new generation of humorists, B. Michael, Ephraim Sidon, Yonatan Gefen, all "sabras" (born in Israel), used virulent, savage satire against the government and its policies. The cabaret satire, presented on stage, became popular and what Levin dared to present in his first satirical plays was now accepted and enjoyed immense popularity. Some "old timers" from the Palmaḥ days like Dahn Ben-Amotz and Amos Kenan joined the ranks. Seeing themselves as keepers of the original idealistic views, destroyed by politicians from the political right as well as from the left, they helped keep up a constant satirical attack against the political establishment.

The Yom Kippur War was a hard shock for most Israelis and had a sobering effect on their self-image. Political humor and virulent satire were mobilized to attack those in power. Since power in 1977 moved to the right side of the political spectrum, most satire came from the left. Satirical plays now enjoyed a huge success. For the first time, Israel, its policies, the feeling of being right, were savagely satirized. Yehoshua Sobol, one of Israel's most prolific playwrights, wrote satirical reviews ferociously attacking the political leadership. Hanoch Levin continued his satirical work. Contrary to the older generation of humorists who saw in political and bureaucratic manipulations a kind of "schlemielish" way of dealing with Israel's realities, the new generation showed politicians as vicious liars, ready to cheat, and even start wars in order to gain or retain power.

However, this satirical overkill became boring in the long run, with the satirists repeating themselves. Some of them, such as B. Michael, Ephraim Sidon, Kobi Niv, and Dudu Geva, started writing absurd humor. This is possibly a renewal of the traditional Jewish humor: if you cannot fight a cruel reality, change it by distorting it. If you can laugh at it, this shows that it is not so terrible. Absurd and even sexual humor (a novelty in Israeli humor), a new modern style of cartoons, comic strips, brought a new wind into Israeli humor. However political satire was still dominant by far.

after the lebanon war

This war, the first on which the Israeli consensus was broken, created an even stronger satirical outcry. But, since they were the same satirists, attacking the same targets, the public and finally the satirists themselves got somewhat tired. New forms of humor appeared on the Israeli scene, some of them relating to the more traditional themes of Jewish humor. In some sketches the schlemiel appeared; an Israeli soldier, a bit confused, doing his best to keep alive and get home in one piece, keeping up his morale by using self-disparaging humor. This was something new.

Some nostalgic looks towards Diaspora Jewish humor appeared. A new generation of Israeli humorists, in their twenties, started a new style of absurd humor which became a cult among youngsters. Satire, nonsense, and self-disparagement contributed to creating a healthy humorous atmosphere. Many daily newspapers started a weekly humor supplement, bestknown being "Another Thing" (Davar Aḥer) in the Socialist party's daily Davar, which even made fun of the party's own historical slogans.

What is the future for the development of Israeli humor? A humorist explained: "Jewish humor developed in Eastern Europe as a defense mechanism. Jews were living in small shtetls, surrounded by a huge majority of Christians who hated them and tried many times to destroy them. Today everything has changed. Jews now live in a small state surrounded by a huge majority of Arabs who hate them and have tried many times to destroy them. So, don't worry, we still need Jewish humor for survival."

Jewish Theoretical Approaches to Humor

Jewish humor was one of the aspects of dealing with reality in difficult times. Humor in itself as a human phenomenon has been investigated by many writers and philosophers, and the three main theoretical approaches to the understanding of humor in the modern period were the products of Jewish minds.

The social theory of humor views laughter as a social punishment directed towards those who do not behave, feel, or think in socially accepted ways. Henri Bergson, the Nobel Prize-winning Jewish philosopher, exposed this theory in his book Le Rire, published in 1898. According to his view, laughter has an important corrective function in social life. As shown before, this function of laughter appeared already in the Bible.

The second theory of humor stresses the motivational and emotional factors in humor. It was first expounded by Sigmund *Freud in his book: Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious, published in 1905. Dividing humor into tendentious and non-tendentious, Freud showed that most humor expresses in a socially acceptable way the strongest human impulses: sexuality and aggressiveness. By freeing the expression of these impulses, psychic energy is economized. In his book, Freud used many examples of Jewish humor: shadkhans (marriage brokers) and shnorrers (beggars) as well as all kinds of Jewish traditional figures abound in his jokes. It is in this book that Freud wrote: "I do not know whether there are many other instances of a people making fun to such a degree of its own character." In this sentence, Freud for the first time gave expression to one of the better known characteristics of Jewish humor: self-disparagement. In an article entitled "Humor," written in 1928, Freud pointed out how humor can be a helpful mechanism by obtaining victory in a symbolic manner when dealing with difficult situations.

The third main theory on humor was proposed by Arthur *Koestler in his book The Art of Creation published in 1964. Here, the cognitive aspect of humor is stressed. Introducing the concept of bisociation, which he defined as "perceiving a situation or idea in two self-consistent but habitually incompatible frames of references," Koestler demonstrated that humor can be seen as a model for creativity. Creativity in sciences, as well as in arts, is based mainly on bisociation, and understanding humor can help better understand the concept of creativity.

These three approaches: social, emotional, and cognitive, constitute the theoretical basis for most modern research in the field of humor. The fact that all three theories were created by Jews is an additional factor strengthening the hypothesis of the special affinity between Jews and humor. In addition, the First International Academic Conference on Jewish Humor held in 1984 at Tel Aviv University, followed by the second one in New York in 1986, shows the interest of the scientific community – Jewish and non-Jewish – in Jewish humor. No such conferences on any other national humor have ever been organized.

Psycho-Social Roots of Jewish Humor

Although most researchers seem to agree that Jewish humor developed as a reaction to the difficult living conditions of a persecuted minority, some additional explanations are relevant. Language is the main vehicle of humor and Jewish history was always linked with language richness. Bilingualism – and at certain times trilingualism – was a characteristic of the Diaspora already from the times of the Babylonian exile. Most of the time, Jews knew three languages: Hebrew for sacred studies, Yiddish (or Ladino), and the language of the country they lived in. Introducing words from one language into another frequently produces humorous effects, and many Jewish writers used this technique. The "Yiddishization of English" provides material for American comedians, and few Americans are unfamiliar with such terms as meshugas, gonif, and gevalt.

Another factor related to language is the perpetual enrichment caused by cultural influences. Jews, a minority in many countries, were influenced by the literature, language, and culture of the host country. Minorities defend their own culture by adopting some aspect of the dominant one, thus contributing to their own enrichment.

Certainly the fact that learning was always highly valued by Jewish tradition has had an important influence in the development of Jewish humor. Most Jewish humor is verbal, and the habit of looking beyond the apparent meaning of the words, trying to turn them around as the pilpul tradition always taught, influenced the taste for playing with words in many ways, including the humorous one.

As a minority, Jews had to maintain their cohesiveness and those who did not follow the community rules were laughed at. The many inner jokes about those who converted or those who did not follow the traditional ways had an important function.

Finally, the need to see the absurdity in a world where Jews, the chosen people, were always persecuted, helped in no small way to develop humor.

bibliography:

I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1958); D. Alexander, The Jester and the King: Political Satire in Israel: A Temporary Summary 1948–1984 (1985); S. Altman, The Comic Image of the Jew: Exploration of a Pop Culture Phenomenon (1971); N. Ausubel, Treasury of Jewish Folklore (1948); C. Bloch, Ostjüdischer Humor (Berlin, 1920); idem, Hersch Ostropoler (1921); M. Buber, Die Chassidischen Bücher (1927; Eng. trans., 2 vol., 1947–48); Y. Friedlander, Be-Misterei ha-Satirah: Hebrew Satire in Europe in the 19^th century (1984); E. Fuchs, Die Juden in der Karikatur (1921); B. Heinemann, The Maggid of Dubno and His Parables (1963); S. Halkin, Modern Hebrew Literature (1950); D. Jarden (ed.), The Cantos of Immanuel of Rome (Maḥbarot Immanuel ha-Romi; 1957); I. Knox, "The Traditional Roots of Jewish Humor," in: Judaism, 12 (1963), 327–37; J.P. Kohn, Rabbinischer Humor aus alter und neuer Zeit (1915); I. Kristol, "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" in: Commentary (Nov. 1951); S. Liptzin, The Flowering of Yiddish Literature (1963); idem, A History of Yiddish Literature (1971); L.I. Newman, Maggidim and Ḥasidim: Their Wisdom (1962); P. Schram, The Wisdom of the Fool and the Maggid (1984); J. Stora Sandor, L'humour juif dans la literature: de Job à Woody Allen (1984); R.R. Wisse, The Schlemiel as Modern Hero (1971); A. Ziv, Jewish Humour (1986). add. bibliography: W. Novak and M. Waldoks (eds.), The Big Book of Jewish Humor (1981); R. Menchin, Jewish Humor from Groucho Marx to Jerry Seinfeld (1997); H. Spalding Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor: From Biblical Times to the Modern Age (2001); idem, Classic Jewish Humor in America (1995); S.B. Cohen (ed.), Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor (1990); J. Bloom, Gravity Fails: The Comic Jewish Shaping of Modern America (2003); L. Epstein, The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America (2001).

[Avner Ziv]