December 14, 2017
Volume 46 - No. 49
By Friedrich Gomez
According to countless JewishAmerican comedians: “You know you’re Jewish because you you’re as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven! And as tall as your grandfather by 7 ½. Yes, you’re Jewish! Because you have at least six male relatives named David, and also because you thought yelling was normal!”
The aforementioned statements are a staple of many Jewish comedians’ arsenal of jokes, a funny commentary that is almost a requirement in their bag of humor.
Jewish comedians, worldwide, have long poked fun of their own cultural roots – longer than can be remembered. More often than not, the recurring humorous theme has long been: “You know you’re Jewish if . . .” and then the litmus test begins with an assortment of comical queries. According to Jewish-American comedian, Billy Crystal: “You know you’re Jewish because your dog responds to Yiddish! Yes, Yiddish, which is a language with a cough and a spit. Until I was 15, I lived in a raincoat!”
For Billy Crystal, he’s just warming up in the bull pen: “You know you’re Jewish because your mother is always feeding you! Her first words over the phone are always, ‘Are you eating enough?’ Until I was 12, I thought my name was ‘taste this.’ As kids, when we would sneeze, gravy would come out of our noses!” (“Mr. Saturday Night,” Castle Rock Entertainment video, 1992.) Food and close ‘mothering’ have long been a stereotypical truism within the Jewish upbringing, inculcating traits and bonding from infancy onward to adulthood.
As a standard, time-worn cliché has it among Jewish comics: “You know Jesus was Jewish because he was over 30 years old and he still lived at home.”
The Jewish perception of life and its attached responsibilities is sometimes reflected in their humor, such as this classic Jewish anecdote: The The Paper Paper -- 760.747.7119 760.747.7119
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Priest: “Life begins at conception.” Reverend: “Life begins at birth.” Rabbi: “Life begins when the kids leave home.”
Jewish humor often reflects back on its own ancient, cultural roots, its trials, sufferings, and the task of dealing with stereotypes – many stereotypes they do not deny, but embrace. It appears that one has to be Jewish – or strongly identify with Jewish culture – to genuinely have empathy and insight into the ‘what-and-why’ of their humor. All of which makes for a fascinating study. According to both Jewish and non-Jewish scholars: “Jewish
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humour is the long tradition of humour in Judaism, dating back to the Torah and the Midrash from the ancient Middle East.”
Impressive, indeed, for this would grant modern Jewish humor a lineage of well over 4,000 years (of recorded history). Most scholars say a lot longer than that, predating the written word. According to one of the foremost experts on Jewish culture and humor, esteemed scholar and researcher, Rabbi Moshe Waldoks, the rules and the laws of the ancient Talmud, for example, were viewed by many Israelites as being so strict and so overly-elaborate as to be
“absurd and ridiculous to the point of being comical.” This viewpoint continues today with this humorous Jewish commentary which pokes fun at overlyzealous Hebrew law: Question: “Is one permitted to ride in an airplane on the Sabbath?” Answer: “Yes, as long as your seat belt remains fastened. In this case, it is considered that you are not riding, you are ‘wearing’ the plane.”
If you find the above anecdote particularly funny – well, you might be Jewish, so say many Jewish standup comedians, tongue-in-cheek. Rabbi Moshe Waldoks goes on to
You Could be Jewish . . . Continued on Page 2