Photo Credit:

Jews are funny. I mean that in two ways. Jews make good jokes and we also do things that are funny sometimes. And by funny things, I mean odd.

My impression is that preachers are pretty serious when they speak from the pulpit. I think that the same could be said for imams. But for some reason, rabbis are always telling jokes.

Advertisement




I resisted it for years. But it’s almost expected that rabbis will tell rabbi jokes from the pulpit. So I have been doing a little bit more humor once in a while and generally the feedback has been positive. I find this incredibly strange.

It’s even more strange when the jokes come at our holiest times of the year.

This year I had 175 people sitting in silence and reverence following a solemn Kol Nidre service. I opened my remarks with a joke. I felt so uncomfortable. But it seemed to me that no one else felt uncomfortable at all. They loved it.

I did the same thing before Neilah. The inspirational talk began with a joke. It worked. People listened. People complimented me. Believe me, I get complaints all the time. No one complained about the jokes.

I don’t get it. I can’t even imagine a Catholic Priest making a joke during their service. I can’t imagine a politician speaking at a serious event and cracking a joke. I’d wager that jokes would not be acceptable in yeshivos either. Most serious yeshivish and chasidish places would not be cool with jokes during a serious drasha.

For some reason in more liberal orthodox shuls and the Conservative and Reform synagogues, jokes are expected. It feels inappropriate to me and I felt a bit hypocritical cracking a couple jokes but it seems to be expected and certainly acceptable. So I conformed and it was successful. But I felt uncomfortable.

I don’t know that I have any particular insight or explanation for this phenomenon. I guess it could be seen as a defense mechanism against the seriousness of the day. Though I am not sure why we need it and others do not. It might be because we don’t take things as seriously as other groups. I hope that’s not the reason. Is it because without humor people would not pay attention? That would be very sad.

Jewish humor developed as a way of coping with oppression. Maybe it’s just so much a part of our collective psyche that we can’t shake it. I don’t have the answer. But I just had to get this off my chest.

Visit Fink or Swim.

Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleLikud MKs Rebel, Tell Netanyahu not To Give Land to PA
Next articleIslamist Showdown
Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, J.D. is the rabbi at the famous Pacific Jewish Center | The Shul on the Beach in Venice CA. He blogs at finkorswim.com. Connect with Rabbi Fink on Facebook and Twitter.