Well I am a jew...and I think i am funny. In short the article talks about how odd it is that jews have become so inseperable from humor and the study of comedy. You can't go too far in a study of stand up comedy, theatrical comedy, artistic comedy, or literary comedy without first coming across the names of a few jewish men and women. Bob Mankoff, the author of this article as well as close to one thousand cartoons for The New Yorker, says that jewish humor stems from jewish inquisitiveness. By the nature of our theology, we are geared towards asking questions. If christianity is founded on faith, Judaism is founded on the pursuit of knowledge (not a qualitative statement, simply the way I see it, both have their pluses and minuses).
I as a jew, love to know everything, and I think that there is something in the Jewish culture that does encourage such omniscience. Considering we have been opressed for thousands upon thousands of years, it is something bordering solace to say that we know just a wee bit more than our opressors. It is our education and wit that has kept the Jews going through all of their strife. If you are not allowed to laugh at yourself, you are left alone with your misery, and lord knows the Jews have enough misery to share. So humor and intellect cover up what we'd prefer to not dwell on.
No comments:
Post a Comment