Despite a long history of things that aren't much to laugh about, there's no denying Jews have always looked for humor. Which is why, in the past century of comedy, Jewish comedians have always been standouts in a crowded field: Jack Benny, George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer – to name but a few. It's also why it wasn't hard for Michael Krasny, a longtime radio talk show host and professor of English, to compile his latest work, Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means. Filled with page upon page of jokes poking fun at every aspect of Jewish life, Krasny also attempts to provide a greater context to much of the humor. While they say explaining a joke makes it no longer funny, Krasny – mostly – manages to keep the humor alive, while exploring how and why certain norms of Jewish culture were ripe for comedy. “Jewish humor highlights suffering and neurosis but also emerges with laughter,” Krasny writes in his introduction. “Much Jewish humor simply celebrates life.” As the author notes – and the jokes prove – many themes are universal. After all, there's a reason everyone said the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding could have been Jewish or that Fiddler on the Roof did so well in Japan. “A lot of Jewish jokes cross over to other nationalities and cultures are indeed universal,” he wrote. “But, paradoxically, many stand utterly alone and nearly cry out repeatedly with three simple words: WE ARE DIFFERENT.” Krasny divides the book into several relatable sections, including jokes about Jewish mothers; sex and marriage; assimilation; suffering and more. Many jokes obviously trade on the worst of Jewish stereotypes, notably greed and stinginess, but also overbearing Jewish mothers and wives, and insular behavior. Most Jewish humor pokes fun at ourselves – after all, if the rest of the world is going to do it, we might as well do it first, it seems. A young man goes off to college, Krasny writes, and “tells his parents he has decided on a career as an actor and is thrilled to be cast in his first play in the role of a Jewish husband. His mother asks, 'A role with no speaking part?'” One of my favorite Jewish jokes, not in the book, is the one about telling the difference between weddings in different Jewish denominations. How can you tell? At an Orthodox wedding, the mother of the bride is pregnant, at a Conservative wedding, the bride is pregnant, and at a Reform wedding, the rabbi is pregnant! Krasny takes it a step further: “A small synagogue in Venice, California, has a sign that reads: 'This Jewish religious house of worship is liberal and progressive and welcomes all people.' A young Jewish man sees the sign and enters the synagogue. A service is going on with a young woman rabbi conducting. The young Jew sees a few scattered congregants seated with their prayer books open. One of them is a highly attractive redhead. He is immediately strongly sexually attracted to her and sits down near her. As the service continues, the young man inches closer to the redhead until he is seated right next to her. He is clearly smitten and leans over close to her and says, literally in her ear, 'I think you are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. I want you.' At this point, the rabbi races down from the pulpit and with anger and apparent outrage, orders the young man to leave the temple immediately. The young man protests and reminds the rabbi of the sign outside welcoming all people and laying claim to being a house of worship bother liberal and progressive. The rabbi says to him: 'That's true. But you don't hit on the rebbetzin.'” There are plenty of jokes about Israelis too, mostly on the stereotype of them being rude and uncivilized, but some even complimentary: “Following Israel's victory in the Six Day War, a class of students is undergoing instruction in a Russian War College in the then USSR,” Krasny writes. “They are discussing how a war with China might be fought with an army of only two hundred million or so while the Chinese army would easily come close to a billion. The brightest student in the class asks the Soviet general in charge how they could possibly hope to win a war against so many Chinese. The general quickly points out to the student that Israel has just won a war with only two or three million soldiers, while their Arab adversaries had some hundred million. The student quickly responds: “Okay. But how are we going to get three million Jews?” But don't worry, there's also the joke about the El Al flight attendant, who asks a traveler if he wants dinner. “What are my choices,” he asks. “Yes or no,” she responds. Jewish humor mocks Jewish avarice, but also non-Jewish materialism; it celebrates the brilliant Jewish mind, and mocks the idea of the Jewish shlemiel; it laments Jewish suffering, and lauds Jewish achievement. Krasny has compiled an amusing and informative look at the humor of and about Jews across the spectrum, from the lighthearted to the darkest times – Jews, after all, are even able to make fun of the Holocaust. As the joke goes, Krasny writes, during the height of the intifada in Jerusalem, a suicide bomb goes off near the home of an American-Jewish family. “The concerned American relatives call and are assured that everyone in the house is safe. They ask about the teenage daughter, Hodel, who they knew hung out at that particular cafe. They are told: 'Hodel is fine, she's safe, she's at Auschwitz.'” Above all, Jewish humor is about celebrating and embracing the uniqueness of Jewish life – telling the ultimate in insular jokes that are, by now, understood by much of the world. Like this winner, one of my favorites in the book: “A Jew is sitting on a park bench eating matza. He sees a blind man on a bench across from him. Out of kindness and concern, he goes over to the blind man and, assuming the man is hungry, hands him a piece of his matza. The blind man slowly touches the matza, feeling it all along its surface, even its ridges, and then exclaims, 'You read this shit?'”
(photo credit: ING IMAGE/ASAP)