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The Big book of Jewish humor [Paperback]

William Novak (Other Contributor)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews) |

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Book Description

Publication Date: 1981

A collection of Jewish humor from every source imaginable: literature, jokes, children's books, magazines, comics, newspapers and others, from Woody Allen to Israel Zangwill.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } A collection of Jewish humor from every source imaginable: literature, jokes, children's books, magazines, comics, newspapers and others, from Woody Allen to Israel Zangwill.

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Product Details

Paperback: 308 pages
Publisher: Harper & Row; 1st edition (1981)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060148942
ISBN-13: 978-0060148942
Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,857,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Unsurpassed [with an addendum], November 20, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Big Book of Jewish Humor (Paperback)

This book came out a while ago yet it remains the best collection available. The various Jewish joke and humor anthologies published recently don't even come close and some are quite shoddy. This definitive, well-illustrated and definitely very "big" volume covers all types of humor from literary to stand-up to historical and more, with jokes, literary excerpts, yiddish curses, and representative selections from famous humorists and comedians as well as from obscure ones. You will find all your favorites here and you will discover some new favorites too. Perhaps the time has come for these authors to do a sequel? No one since them seems to be up to the task.

Addendum: I posted the paragraph above a decade ago for the original edition of this book. There's a new 25th Anniversary edition now. While the humor is just as good as before, I must say that this new edition is possibly a missed opportunity. There has been quite a lot of excellent new Jewish humor in the past 25 years, some of it worthy of inclusion here, but the editors have chosen just to reprint the old edition with a different colored cover and an updated preface. Maybe they didn't want to tinker with a classic, but it may be time for a "New" Big Book of Jewish humor that acknowledges new humorists and new targets for satire.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big Book of Jewish Humor, March 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Big Book of Jewish Humor (Paperback)

The Big Book of Jewish Humor is a great collection of articles, one-liners, and cartoons. It's the kind of book you can pick up anywhere and start reading, the perfect book to leaf through when you've only got a few minutes and need a quick laugh. The book contains selections from authors you'd expect, such as Woody Allen and Sholom Aleichem, as well as contributions from Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud. Many of the classics are here, such as Lenny Bruce's comparison of Jews and non-Jews and the Sanity Clause routine between Groucho and Chico written by Kaufman and Ryskind, but there also are many gems you may never have read before.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a classic!, December 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Big Book of Jewish Humor (Paperback)

The Big Book of Jewish Humor is a must-own for Jews of all races, creeds and... well, OK, just for Jews. Anyway, it's loaded with so many brilliant pieces -- from one-liners to standard jokes to essays -- and covers such a wide body of work and of historical subjects, that finding a flaw ain't easy. If I have any complaint (and who among us doesn't?), it's that this book is so thick with outstanding humor, I don't think I've ever read half of its works.

By the way, it's a good gift for goyim, as well. If you don't have it yet, get it soon!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the funniest books ever!
If you're Jewish, were raised around Jewish friends, or are familiar with Jewish humor, get this book. Read more

Published 23 months ago by E. Arriola

5.0 out of 5 stars It Makes You Laugh, It Makes You Think
In a way, we don't ask much of books that tell us they're going to be funny. We want them to make us laugh. But a book of Jewish humor has to do more than that. Read more

Published on September 12, 2008 by Lawrence J. Epstein

5.0 out of 5 stars Verry, verry funny
I purchased this book as a gift for my brother. Before I repackaged it to send, I scanned several pages and found the stories, jokes and side bars very funny so, I ordered a... Read more

Published on March 25, 2008 by Steven Rothstein

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to be Jewish!
For anyone exposed to American TV and movies (which I have been since the 50's) this is entertainment mother's milk. Read more

Published on May 31, 2007 by Baby Snooks

3.0 out of 5 stars Book of Humor
I liked the book; I loved the price. It was used but in very good condition.

Published on May 15, 2007 by Rose Adler

4.0 out of 5 stars Big Book Of Jewish Humor
Lots for the money. A few of the long stories I couldn't really relate to, being a thorough goy.

Published on January 18, 2007 by Maxwell J. Wilcomb

5.0 out of 5 stars Examines Jewish Humor from every Angle
This is a very interesting and humorous book. Most of the greats that I am familiar with are represented here so you get a truly all encompassing across the board variety of wit... Read more

Published on January 10, 2007 by kametamorphic

5.0 out of 5 stars A big anthology which could have been a lot bigger
This is a rich anthology with many fine pieces in it. But it does not always contain the best selections , the funniest things of the writer's in question. Read more

Published on November 24, 2006 by Shalom Freedman

5.0 out of 5 stars Hear what the author has to say!
I had the opportunity to interview Reb Moshe Waldoks, the co-author of this book, for my podcast, The Book of Life. Read more

Published on March 14, 2006 by Heidi Estrin

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like jokes, stories, and having a good laugh...
Boy, if you like to read a book that has everything a Jew could laugh about, this book is it! I couldn't be without a book like this, so get yourself a copy! Read more

Published on July 8, 2004 by Lucky13

› See all 15 customer reviews...

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
A classic. Minsk and Pinsk, which appear in many jokes because of the sound of their names, were important commercial centers and Jewish communities in White Russia. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ish humor, defending angel, sholom aleichem

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sholem Shachnah, New York, Dick Codor, Yom Kippur, Woody Allen, Great Apikoros, David Levine, Philip Roth, Purple Gang, Bontsha the Silent, John Caldwell, Miss Mitnick, Rabbi Goldstone, Shabbas Nachamu, Tel Aviv, Mark Podwal, Ralph Steadman, Reb Yonah, Mark Twain, National Lampoon, Queen of Sheba, Writer's Digest Books, Air Force, Dinah Shore, Rabbi Boruchl

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Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 78 books:

Annie Hall by Woody Allen on page 85, page 200, and page 219
Jewish Wit by T. Reik in Front Matter, page 50, and page 81
Sigmund Freud by Ralph Steadman on page 49, page 50, and page 245
To Jerusalem and Back (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by Saul Bellow on page 282, and Back Matter
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler on page 236, and Back Matter

See all 78 books this book cites

45 books cite this book:

Jewish-American Folklore (American Folklore Series) by Josepha Sherman on 7 pages
Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling by Steve Zeitlin on 5 pages
Gravity Fails: The Comic Jewish Shaping of Modern America by James D. Bloom on 5 pages
Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews by Joseph Telushkin on 4 pages
Semites and Stereotypes: Characteristics of Jewish Humor (Contributions in Ethnic Studies) by Avner Ziv on page 45, page 85, and page 98

See all 45 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Living Judaism by Wayne D. Dosick

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