Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews [Hardcover]

Joseph Telushkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992

A collection of Jewish humor features a compilation of Jewish jokes and offers an analysis of what humor reveals about Jewish culture. 50,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Rabbi Telushkin (An Eye for an Eye, 1991), rooted in the tradition of reverence for past learning, has gathered lots of hoary jokes and aged wisecracks, together with a few more recent japes, that make Jews laugh. To coreligionists, they'll seem like old friends; to others, the gags and their elucidation may be more in the nature of revelation. Another book of ethnic gags? Hold the cry of ``gevalt!'' because Telushkin has an unstated agenda. True to his calling, he uses the funny stuff to instruct. In this collection (in which some bits are, naturally, funnier than others), everything stands for something else--but all of it carries explanations. The exegesis of the jokes becomes a little primer on a religion and a way of life mystifying to strangers and sometimes just as puzzling to nominal adherents. It's a truism that Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle applies to humor--observing and analyzing it alters it. That effect can be seen here as Telushkin trots out Jackie Mason and Sigmund Freud, as well as Leo Rosten and a host of Unknown Comics for a higher purpose. The tales of the wise rabbis, the fabled fools of Chelm, the anti-Semites, the schnorrers, and the big shots all serve to illustrate his lessons. Was the shtetl a forerunner of Catskills on Broadway? Why are comedians so often Jewish? Why are Jews so often comedians? Why ask questions? Just listen to the rabbi and his jokes. Fine, funny fare for Jew and non-Jew alike. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is a widely known spiritual leader and scholar. He is the author of many books, among them the bestsellingJewish Literacy and The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism. Rabbi Telushkin lectures widely throughout North America and serves as rabbi for the Synagogue for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 237 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688110274
• ISBN-13: 978-0688110277
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, spiritual leader and scholar, is the acclaimed author of nine other nonfiction books, including The Book of Jewish Values, The Golden Land: The Story of Jewish Immigration to America, and Jewish Literacy, the most widely read book on Judaism of the past two decades. He is a senior associate of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, serves on the board of the Jewish Book Council, and is the rabbi of the Los Angeles-based Synagogue for the Performing Arts. He lives with his family in New York City and lectures regularly throughout the United States.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is about the Jewish experience, November 20, 2001

By 

David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews (Paperback)

In this book, we learn about the Jewish experience as expressed in humor. For example, Jews have often reacted to antisemitism by joking about it. Usually such humor includes irony, often having a punchline in which a hapless Jew gets the better of his oppressor. Sometimes, however, the humor is bitter.

Rightly or wrongly, ethnic groups are stereotyped and Jewish humor makes great use of its own stereotypes. Even the most religious Jew can poke fun at rabbis and generally, such humor is gentle and endearing. The conflict between the major branches of Judaism is fertile ground for jokes. So too, the Jewish family and all it's stereotypes e.g. the Jewish mother, is a tremendous source of humor. Even Jews who are totally non religious, such as Woody Allen, nontheless are greatly influenced by their Judaism in their humor.

This book explores the Jewish experience and then relates how this experience surfaces in humor. The book also exposes ugliness in Jewish humor such as the nasty, antisemitic "JAP" jokes that were popular, generally among non Jews. This book is not a collection of jokes, although there are plenty of jokes in this book. Rather, this is a book about what makes Jewish humor tick as illustrated by the jokes which are included as examples.

I gave the book four stars rather than five because there are extensive end notes, many of which are worth reading and I feel that they should have been integrated into the text. Instead, the reader must flip to the end of the book to reference these notes. This is somewhat annoying. Despite this criticism, I really liked the book and found it to be very enjoyable reading.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Socrates knew what he was talking about..., January 22, 2001

By 

Jennifer M. Macleod "yiddishe supermama" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews (Paperback)

Everybody knows about Jewish confidence: "We're smart! We're chosen! We have more Nobel prizes than we deserve! We're a light unto the nations!" Those are the things we say out loud.

But, like everybody, Jews are also insecure. Among ourselves, we ask, "Are we really smart? Why does nobody like us?" And the deeper, more difficult question, "What's going to happen to us?"

Humour has always been the Jewish way of looking at these insecurities in the fresh and optimistic light a smile can shed on any painful issue. From the days of the Talmud right on up to Adam Sandler (and hopefully *beyond* -- I'd hate to think of the "Hanukkah song" as the "end-all" of Jewish humour!), we use humour to poke away at ourselves, examining the things that make us unique and also the issues that frighten us the most. Sure, this book's honesty made me squirm a little, but as Socrates once said, "So, nu? From an examined life, you don't die."

Telushkin has masterfully grouped the best Jewish jokes into categories. His illuminations are helpful but never intrusive -- this is above all else a FUNNY book. If you're wondering what makes us tick and why the funny bone is so often the way to a Jewish heart, check out Telushkin's book and be prepared to squirm a little -- and learn a lot.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Jewish collective unconscious, January 16, 2000

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews (Paperback)

More than just a collection of Jewish jokes, this book successfully attempts to dig into the way Jewish humor reflects the idiosyncrasies of the Jewish's mind. Behind each joke the author searches its roots, the social and historical context. Enjoyable, well presented. It helps if the reader has a Jewish background, but it is quite accessible to the open-minded "goyim." Have fun!