Have You Heard the One About…

Jews have been laughing from the very beginning.

When G-d told 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah that they would have a child, “Abraham fell flat on his face and laughed” (Genesis, 17:17) while “Sarah laughed inwardly” (Genesis 18:12). No surprise that they named their son Isaac, which means “he laughs.”  

The Jewish people have made extraordinary contributions to pretty much every field imaginable.  Scientists such as Albert Einstein and Jonas Salk have expanded our knowledge of the universe and extended our lives, while artists such as Barbra Streisand and Stephen Sondheim have helped make our lives worth living.   

But at just 2% of the U.S. population, is there any area where Jews are as disproportionately represented as in comedy?  Groucho Marx, Milton Berle, George Burns, and Eddie Cantor; Mel Brooks, Sid Caeser, Gene Wilder, and Gilda Radner; Joan Rivers, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Seinfeld, and Billy Crystal.  Decade after decade of comedic brilliance.

Some argue that the Jewish sense of humor evolved in response to the obstacles we have faced over time.  An opposing view says that it developed despite those challenges.  That reminds me of an exchange from “Fiddler on the Roof” when Tevye overhears two men arguing.  One says that you should always be aware of what is happening in the outside world even though it can be so depressing.  Tevye is convinced, declaring, “You are right.” The other person maintains that ignorance is bliss, to which Tevye asserts “You are right, too.”  A third man points out that they can’t possibly both be correct, to which Tevye states, “You know, you are also right.”

Some argue that the Jewish sense of humor evolved in response to the obstacles we have faced over time.  An opposing view says that it developed despite those challenges.

It has been said that analyzing humor risks making it not very funny. But perhaps it is incongruence – the coupling of incompatible thoughts – that makes Jewish humor so special.  The ideas don’t make sense together; until you realize that they do.  There is often a pause before you get the joke and begin to laugh.  

As a young boy, I would go to the Catskills with my mom and grandmother, and that is where I was first exposed to Jewish humor.  A woman complains to her waiter that “the food here is really terrible.”  Her friend chimes in, “and the portions are so small!”  It took me years to figure out why that was funny.

Just as the notion that there isn’t enough inedible food is contradictory, so is the nine-word description of most Jewish holidays: “They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat.”  Recalling the horrors of antisemitism on one hand; time for dinner, on the other.  And don’t forget that the difference between a Jewish pessimist and a Jewish optimist is that while the pessimist believes things are so bad that they can’t possibly get worse, the optimist is confident that they can.

Humor can illustrate the power of Jewish identity.  You might know the story of Morris Goldberg.  Morris was the president of his synagogue until he ended up so disgusted with temple politics that he not only left his shul, he left his faith.  He became a Christian and threw himself into the life of his church.  In fact, he received the honor of being named Parishioner of the Year.  When he accepted the award at the church banquet, he began his speech with the immortal words, “My fellow goyim.”

I tried my best to integrate humor into my teaching, and into my administrative duties. My goal was to level the playing field – making the professor and the president more relatable.

But if you haven’t found the stories in this column all that funny, I have an excuse – my academic discipline is economics.  As they say, an economist is an accountant without the personality.  

So let’s keep on laughing.  We should never allow our enemies to wrest the gift of humor from our people, or from the larger world.

A Jew, Irving Berlin, wrote the great classics “God Bless America” and “White Christmas.” But when I need to be cheered up I listen to Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song.”  “Paul Newman’s half Jewish, Goldie Hawn’s half too. Put them together, what a fine-looking Jew!”  Does it get better than that?

Morton Schapiro is the former president of Williams College and Northwestern University. His most recent book (with Gary Saul Morson) is “Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us.”