“America is different.” Time and time again, when you hear experts discuss the state of the Jews in the world, you hear the same thing: America is different.
Sure, it’s not as if there’s absolutely no anti-Semitism here, but compared to the rest of the world there’s little doubt that this country has been a haven for Jews.
How do we explain this? There are the obvious reasons, like the fact that this is a country governed by laws. It doesn’t matter who you are, what God you believe in or what language you speak, the laws in America are designed to protect your rights. And if this country is obsessed with anything, it is obsessed with protecting individuals’ rights. Since their arrival, and especially over the past half-century, Jews have taken full advantage of this protection to succeed in virtually every field of influence in American society.
This has earned Jews in America a degree of respect they have rarely enjoyed in other places in the Diaspora.
But respect is one thing — love is another. Respect doesn’t begin to explain the long and ongoing love affair between America and the Jews — a love affair that has rendered the two cultures virtually interchangeable. How do we explain that love?
As it happens, I found one answer at a recent fundraiser for Maimonides Academy, my kids’ Jewish day school. This year, maybe to provide some well-needed distraction from the economic crisis, Rabbi Baruch Kupfer, the head of the school, asked one of my favorite comedians, Mark Schiff, to produce a kosher comedy night at The Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard.
We’ve all been to comedy joints and seen Jewish stand-up comics, but what was different about this night is that everything screamed Jewish. The comics. The cause. The audience. The evening even began with the ultimate Jewish experience: a rabbi’s sermon.
On the same stage where raunchy comics bring down the house every night with material that would make a free-speech activist blush, here was an Orthodox rabbi talking about the importance
of Jewish education.
Needless to say, this sermon — and its length— was the brunt of jokes throughout the rest of the evening. But in a strange way, it also set a tone for the night. Yes, we can crack up and laugh until it hurts — and believe me, we did — but the rabbi’s sermon reminded us that we should never forget the serious stuff like, for example, the future of the Jewish nation.
This mix of the serious and the comical hit home when Maimonides parent and kippah-wearing comic Elon Gold got up to do his shtick. At one point, he took on perhaps the most serious topic of all for Jews: anti-Semitism. Of course, he did it his way, by introducing a rarely used term — pro-Semitism. He spoofed a series of ads, one of which used a hick accent: “I was told that I had six months left to live, and then some Jew-doctor took my disease away — but left me with a case of pro-Semitism.”
At that moment, while the crowd was in hysterics, I couldn’t help but have a serious thought: maybe, just maybe, it is the Jewish comedians who are most responsible for the pro-Semitism in America — that is, for the mutual love affair between America and the Jews. While doctors, lawyers, academics, Hollywood moguls and other machers may have earned us the respect, it is the comedians who have brought us the love.
Think about it. Who was the most popular kid in class? Who’s the most endearing guest at a dinner table? Is it the person who knows the most, or the one who can poke fun at himself and make you laugh?
Seriously, is there an ethnic group in America that has given this country more laughs than the Jews? From Jack Benny, Shelley Berman, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar to Mel Brooks, Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, is there a group that better practices the art of poking fun at itself?
We can applaud all day long the work of Jewish groups that counteract anti-Semitism, like the Anti-Defamation League, the Holocaust memorials and the multitude of pro-Jewish and social activist groups — and I do applaud them — but for my money, the most underrated and underappreciated Jewish warriors against anti-Semitism have been our comedians.
No Jews have done more to endear us to America. And the fact that they don’t take themselves too seriously hardly means that we shouldn’t take them — or their contributions to our community — more seriously.
In fact, the upcoming holiday of Purim — that wild and crazy time of year when many Jews get drunk and a little rowdy — is an ideal time to take a more serious look at our comedians. While I was schmoozing about this subject the other day with Schiff, he shared a sober thought with me about comedy: If you laugh hard enough, it’s like being drunk.
What a holy idea: This Purim, instead of getting drunk on Johnny Walker, we can get drunk on laughter.
It wouldn’t be a bad way to honor the modern-day Jewish heroes who conquered the hearts of a great nation by telling a few good jokes.
David Suissa is the founder of OLAM magazine and OLAM.org. You can read his daily blog at suissablog.com and e-mail him at suissa@olam.org.