portions!”
They also make a point with punch.
David came home from work to total mayhem. His children were in the yard, playing in dirt. There was a sink full of dishes and there were toys a foot high in the children’s room. Worried, he looked for his wife, Marcia … and found her curled up in bed with a book.
“Darling, how was your day?” she asked, smiling.
Bewildered, Irving asked, “Marcia! What happened here today!?”
“You know how every day you come home from work and ask me ‘what in the world did you do today?’”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Well,” she said, “today I didn’t do it.”
Our skepticism and kvetching about life and ourselves through jokes can be deprecating, self-deprecating, critical, or self-critical. And, they are often wise and philosophical, with a definite knack for putting down pretension.
Lisa, unlike her immigrant mama, had the benefit of higher education, and was a regular “intellectual” at home, always spouting philosophy.
“Mama, I accept the universe as it is,” stated the “intellectual” pompously.
Mama thought for a while.
“Nu,
darling,” she countered, “and if you didn’t?”
The jokes we tell offer insight into how we see ourselves in society and in the world. It’s been suggested that as outsiders, better to give ourselves a
zetz
(punch) first. By jumping in, not only do we defuse pain, but come out with the edge. As outsiders, criticism of those in power, especially the pompously powerful, are ripe for put-down. (Some mavens have suggested that Yiddish itself and its “stepchild” Yinglish, with its wit and creativity, may be viewed as a satire when played against the rigid formality of German.) Jews are in the unique position of having been persecuted,
while feeling quite superior intellectually,
which leads to humor over what we consider to be absurdities, unfairness, and pomposity of life in general, and within ourselves.
A rabbi in the hospital received a large vase of flowers with the following note: “The congregation wishes you a full and speedy recovery—by a vote of 212 to 74.”
Often irreverent, we are defiant and laugh in the face of authority. We may have lost many a battle, but by using our wits to uncover prejudice, for example, we come out the winners.
An anti-semite declares without shame, “All our troubles come from the Jews!”
The Jew responds: “Absolutely! From the Jews— and the camels!”
“Camels? Why the camels?” asks the anti-semite.
“Why the Jews?” asks the Jew.
A TTITUDES AND A TTITUDE
J ewish mothers have always been fodder for Jewish jokes. But, some feel that today, in the absence of a strong religious base, and with assimilation and media, we’ve
become
a Jewish joke. And no matter how much truth there is in the ethno-type, many are still offended.
A bus with thirty Hadassah ladies turned over and were dispatched to heaven. Unfortunately the computers were down, so God had to ask Satan to provide temporary housing. Soon after, He received an urgent telephone call from Satan telling Him to take the women off his hands.
“What’s the problem?” asked God.
Satan replied, “Those Hadassah ladies are ruining my whole set-up. Only two hours and already they raised $100,000 for an air-conditioning system!”
Rabbi Shira Stern is one who considers the Jewish joke offensive, as does Dr. Myrna Hant. “They’re every part of the stereotype, revealing strong Jewish frustration and anger.”
“Perceptions creates reality,” says Rabbi Yocheved Mintz. “If humor or exaggeration becomes the perception, it can be a detriment.”
The majority of those I interviewed had varying points of view—but there are factors that make the Jewish mother joke more acceptable. Certainly taste was one. The quick stereotypical two or three-liners, for example, aren’t particularly funny—or tasteful. Few would laugh at:
Q: What’s the difference between a rottweiler and a Jewish mother?
A:
They also make a point with punch.
David came home from work to total mayhem. His children were in the yard, playing in dirt. There was a sink full of dishes and there were toys a foot high in the children’s room. Worried, he looked for his wife, Marcia … and found her curled up in bed with a book.
“Darling, how was your day?” she asked, smiling.
Bewildered, Irving asked, “Marcia! What happened here today!?”
“You know how every day you come home from work and ask me ‘what in the world did you do today?’”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Well,” she said, “today I didn’t do it.”
Our skepticism and kvetching about life and ourselves through jokes can be deprecating, self-deprecating, critical, or self-critical. And, they are often wise and philosophical, with a definite knack for putting down pretension.
Lisa, unlike her immigrant mama, had the benefit of higher education, and was a regular “intellectual” at home, always spouting philosophy.
“Mama, I accept the universe as it is,” stated the “intellectual” pompously.
Mama thought for a while.
“Nu,
darling,” she countered, “and if you didn’t?”
The jokes we tell offer insight into how we see ourselves in society and in the world. It’s been suggested that as outsiders, better to give ourselves a
zetz
(punch) first. By jumping in, not only do we defuse pain, but come out with the edge. As outsiders, criticism of those in power, especially the pompously powerful, are ripe for put-down. (Some mavens have suggested that Yiddish itself and its “stepchild” Yinglish, with its wit and creativity, may be viewed as a satire when played against the rigid formality of German.) Jews are in the unique position of having been persecuted,
while feeling quite superior intellectually,
which leads to humor over what we consider to be absurdities, unfairness, and pomposity of life in general, and within ourselves.
A rabbi in the hospital received a large vase of flowers with the following note: “The congregation wishes you a full and speedy recovery—by a vote of 212 to 74.”
Often irreverent, we are defiant and laugh in the face of authority. We may have lost many a battle, but by using our wits to uncover prejudice, for example, we come out the winners.
An anti-semite declares without shame, “All our troubles come from the Jews!”
The Jew responds: “Absolutely! From the Jews— and the camels!”
“Camels? Why the camels?” asks the anti-semite.
“Why the Jews?” asks the Jew.
A TTITUDES AND A TTITUDE
J ewish mothers have always been fodder for Jewish jokes. But, some feel that today, in the absence of a strong religious base, and with assimilation and media, we’ve
become
a Jewish joke. And no matter how much truth there is in the ethno-type, many are still offended.
A bus with thirty Hadassah ladies turned over and were dispatched to heaven. Unfortunately the computers were down, so God had to ask Satan to provide temporary housing. Soon after, He received an urgent telephone call from Satan telling Him to take the women off his hands.
“What’s the problem?” asked God.
Satan replied, “Those Hadassah ladies are ruining my whole set-up. Only two hours and already they raised $100,000 for an air-conditioning system!”
Rabbi Shira Stern is one who considers the Jewish joke offensive, as does Dr. Myrna Hant. “They’re every part of the stereotype, revealing strong Jewish frustration and anger.”
“Perceptions creates reality,” says Rabbi Yocheved Mintz. “If humor or exaggeration becomes the perception, it can be a detriment.”
The majority of those I interviewed had varying points of view—but there are factors that make the Jewish mother joke more acceptable. Certainly taste was one. The quick stereotypical two or three-liners, for example, aren’t particularly funny—or tasteful. Few would laugh at:
Q: What’s the difference between a rottweiler and a Jewish mother?
A:
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