Jewish Humor

Jewish humor is a vast field of Jewish studies that includes many aspects, including different periods, different types, different contents, and a variety of languages in different geographical locations. Research on Jewish humor began at the end of the 19th century. Since then, scholars have endeavored to answer several key questions: (1) is there a distinctive Jewish humor? Some argue that there is no compelling evidence that a unique Jewish humor does, in fact, exist. (2) How can one define Jewish humor? Some scholars suggest that Jewish humor was created by Jews, relates to Jewish culture, and is meant for Jews. (3) What are the origins of the modern Jewish humor? Accounts differ: some find its origins in the Enlightenment at the 18th century and the emancipation of Jews that followed in western Europe. Others find the sources of Jewish humor in the Talmud and midrash literature and others who find them in the Bible. (4) Where was modern Jewish humor created? Most scholars argue that it started and first flourished in eastern Europe, the domicile of the majority of Jews until the Holocaust in the 20th century. (5) What are the reasons for the formation of Jewish humor? The broad answer shared by most researchers is that the unique Jewish experience that served as the foundation of modern Jewish humor, is based on two core components: Jewish history, and literacy. Jewish history is rife with particularly difficult experiences—expulsion of the Jews from their homeland, wandering from place to place for over two thousand years, humiliation by the host populations in Europe, life in ghettos, anti-Semitism, persecution, expulsion, and pogroms culminating in the Holocaust. In addition, the existence of a unique Jewish literacy, including Bible studies, the Midrash, and oral quibbling (“Pilpul”) were integral parts of Jewish culture and education A new study contends that the modern Jewish humor that appeared between the 18th and 19th centuries in eastern Europe, is the result of a unique encounter of three major components: A – Jewish wisdom, including critical thinking and creativity. Two thousand years of Jewish literacy, based on continuous learning, the study of the Talmud, and critical thought, sharpened the Jewish mind and its creative abilities, which are both qualities crucial to modern Jewish humor. B – Jewish self-humor. Jewish people were continuously distressed with their harsh experiences: the harsh economic and social conditions, anti-Semitism, blood libels, pogroms, and massacres. These realities forced them to develop cognitive psychological coping mechanisms, leading to the development of their unique self-humor. C – The Jewish Emancipation and the rift in Jewish society (18th–19th centuries). As a result of the Emancipation, for the first time European Jews lived in complete legal equality with the gentiles. Jews were now free to leave the ghettos, enter higher education, work in any profession they wished, and integrate into the modern world. The 18th century also saw European Jewish society split into three contending groups: Hasidim, Mitnagdim, and Maskilim. This created a deep rift among them. The tension resulting from these two elements, the entry into modern life and the rift in Jewish society, was one of the important sources for the creation of modern Jewish humor, as expressed in the jokes created by each group directed against the others and by the humorous literature created by the Maskilim. The conjunction of these three elements resulted in the creation of a unique Jewish humor. However, some researchers argue that no categorical evidence exists to support the fact that it is the Jewish experience that gave birth to Jewish humor. (6) When was Jewish humor defined as a cultural concept? Some scholars argue that it was so defined at the end of the 19th century. The majority of the Jewish people lived in three socio-geographic centers where the core of Jewish humor was created, developed, and flourished: eastern Europe from the 19th century until the Holocaust in the middle of the 20th century, the United States of America from the end of the 19th century to the present, and Israel from the 20th century to the present. The different shades of Jewish humor can be detected from each of the three areas. This study focuses on these three locations, although it is important to point out that Jewish humor flourished also in other Jewish centers, such as central Europe, western Europe, Russia, Latin America, and the Middle East. This article focuses on the important bibliographic sources that examine Jewish humor in all its variety, including the Bible, the Talmud, midrash, literature, jokes, caricatures, cinema, and theater, in an attempt to answer the aforementioned questions and many others. The works cited in the article are scholarly sources, except for a few books and anthologies of Jewish humor. In these cases they will be indicated as such.