Judaism

Humor is the lingua franca of the Jewish people. While the core values of Judaism based on the Hebrew scriptures include such lofty ideals as the pursuit of justice and caring for the weak and marginalized members of society, such as the orphan, widow, and stranger, the Jewish people have also made a major contribution to humor. Even outside the world of the professional comic, we find ordinary folk answering a question with a question, employing a sarcastic retort, offering self-deprecating witticisms. For Jews, this special brand of humor has become a defining characteristic, marking their uniqueness among the peoples of the world. Humor, after all, is not only medicine for the body; it is good for the soul as well. In examining what people laugh at, we come close to learning what they value.

How far back does Jewish humor go? A few hundred years? To Talmudic times? To the Bible? Many scholars believe that the Bible, in particular the Hebrew Bible, is without any humor. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead claimed that there is no humor in the Old Testament. Needless to say, many scholars disagree. The Hebrew Bible does include humor, although much of it is quite subtle and requires knowledge of the original language of the Bible, Hebrew. Language-based humor (e.g. puns, alliteration, and wordplay) does not translate well. In addition, biblical humor may be characterized across several broad categories of humor, namely, irony, sarcasm, exaggerated imagery, and humorous situations.

The major purpose of the use of such humorous devices as satire and sarcasm was to ridicule the evildoer and idolater and to reinforce the idea that evil is not only wrong but often nonsensical. Indeed the punishments have a higher purpose and often turn the tables on evildoers. This is a clever and witty way to show the wages of sin.

Some well-known examples of humor in the Hebrew Bible include the stories of Balaam and his donkey, Jacob's dealings with Laban, Joseph and his brothers, and, of course, Jonah. Jonah, the unwilling—and, incidentally, the most successful— prophet, refuses God's bidding to announce to the residents of Nineveh (capital of Assyria) its imminent destruction. He tries to flee from God by taking a ship from Jaffa to Tarshish. The prophet must have known that God was omniscient and omnipresent, yet he felt that he could escape from God. When God finally forces Jonah to prophesy to the residents of Nineveh, the entire prophecy appears to be but five Hebrew words—translated as “In 40 days, Nineveh will be overturned” (Jonah 3:4)— and Jonah is wildly successful, more so than any other prophet. Not only do the citizens of Nineveh proclaim a fast in their repentance, but even the cattle and sheep are made to fast and the cattle are also covered with sackcloth. The prophecy did not mention God, did not mention repentance, did not mention sin—and, yet, the response on the part of Nineveh is a completely over-the-top communal penitence. The reluctant Jonah accomplished in a mere five words what numerous prophets, including the eloquent Isaiah, could not achieve with thousands of words, and all without even trying. The joke unfortunately is on the ancient people of Israel. The message of Jonah is that a schlimazel (unlucky) prophet can be successful with pagans who were not at Sinai to hear the revelation, yet the best prophets could get nowhere with the people of Israel who would, consequently, be exiled.

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