Baum - The Jewish joke: a short history - with punchlines

ALSO BY DEVORAH BAUM

Feeling Jewish (a Book for Just About Anyone)

The Jewish Joke

A Short Historywith Punchlines

Devorah Baum

PEGASUS BOOKS

NEW YORK LONDON

THE JEWISH JOKE

Pegasus Books, Ltd.
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2018 by Devorah Baum

First Pegasus Books hardcover edition May 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or
in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers
who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper,
magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or other, without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-68177-742-9

ISBN: 978-1-68177-813-6 (e-book)

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your devices search function to locate particular terms in the text.

Abraham

as father to Isaac and Ishmael 7

as husband of Sarah 7

as Knight of Faith 8

Lincoln 32

as shlemiel 8

Aleichem, Sholom 135

Allen, Woody

Annie Hall 2

comic timing of 5

Deconstructing Harry 41

as miserabilist 137

problematic character of 7

as realist 56

animals

elephants 16972

cows 61, 734, 148, 154

cows (sacred) 147

parrots 3437, 38

anti-Semitism

and jokes 38, 105

and self-hatred 3942, 99

slipperiness of 10, 38, 39

Appelfeld, Aharon 46

assimilation

and adaptability 625

and conversion 246

and dress 3031

and language 289

and parroting 348

and principles 37

and trains 323

Austin, J. L. 169

Baddiel, David 25, 177

The Infidel 112

My Family Not the Sitcom 177

Baron Cohen, Sacha 178

Beatty, Paul

The Sellout 1556

Bellow, Saul 179

Boosler, Elayne 100

Bruce, Lenny 1524, 1578, 160, 164, 175

business

bad deals 5561

good deals 5561

terms and conditions of 62

Chutzpah

of comedians 23

of Israelis 11112

of Jews 10610

C. K., Louis 143, 176

comedians

female 7, 99104

vs Jews 224

male 967, 101

stand-ups 96, 157, 1757

conversion

humours role in 150, 154

impossibility of 246, 28

inevitability of 1524

DeLillo, Don

Underworld 160, 175

dentists 43, 1323, 150, 154

as comedians manqu 224, 1323

Derrida, Jacques 1702

diaspora

America 1415, 29

desert islands 1213, 1701

England 2931

France 172

India 935

Minsk 33

Pale of Settlement 245

Pinsk 33

Shtetl 52

doubleness

of identity 12, 15, 1656

of joking 79, 1767

of language 145, 16970

Dunham, Lena 67

education

in Hebrew school 58

in medical school 92

in primary school 567, 167

in yeshiva 1612

Ferris, Joshua

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour 132

festivals

Hanukah 112, 153

Passover 161

Rosh Hashanah 3538

Yom Kippur 13, 32, 37, 1589, 173

food

apples 83, 130

cake 71, 87, 153

cheesecake 1201

Chinese cuisine 1011

Kosher 11, 125, 1389, 161

Kugel 75

portion sizes 2

restaurants 10, 11, 29, 55, 823, 108, 144

soup 9, 55

treyf 29

Freud, Sigmund

family jokes 978

Freudian slips 98, 106, 145

Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious 34

masochism 13, 435

neurosis 6670, 89

Oedipal Complex 8890

psychoanalysis 667

psychiatrists 656, 97

sadism 445

unconscious 47

funny

ha ha 2, 167

peculiar 2, 47, 167

ticklishness 166, 174

Gentiles

black 1546

Chinese 1011

vs Jews 1621

white 151

God

vs grandmothers 1223

laughing 8, 145

vs Man 135, 13740

not laughing 46

praying to 1359

vs Rabbis 1412, 159

Gold, Judy 2930

Greenblatt, Stephen 119

Grossman, David

A Horse Walks into a Bar 45, 119, 174

guilt 45, 119, 174

and Jews 678

and jokes 668

and mothers 6770, 89, 97

and the unconscious 67

Hebrew Scriptures

study of 347, 1623

humour of 89

ethics of 110

Heine, Heinrich 145

Holocaust

Hitler 41

Auschwitz 47, 11516

Nazis 40, 144, 145

survivors of 46

Howe, Irving 179

Israel

Hebrew 112

Israelis 11119

as Jewish state 11112

as not so Jewish state 11213

Palestinians 11819

Jewish Question (The) 164, 1712, 174, 176

justice

according to Freud 109

as analogous to wit 1423

in South Africa 124

Kafka, Franz 810, 119

Kashua, Sayed 1189

Arab Labour 118

Katz, Jonathan 145

Kierkegaard, Sren 8, 146, 149

Ladman, Cathy 99

language

and difference 16970

Esperanto 16970

Hebrew 112

Yiddish 289, 112, 16970

laughter

aggression of 445

irrepressibility of 47

nervousness of 175

Liebman, Wendy 100

Lipman, Maureen 67

Marx, Groucho

Animal Crackers 1656

and doubleness 166

principles of 37

as unclubbable 34

Mason, Jackie 175

men

as comics 967, 10001

as fathers 867, 128

as fathers-in-law 86

as husbands 7380, 889

as rabbis 734, 813, 127, 1312, 1412, 1489, 1589, 1624

as sexists 802

as sons 889

as sons-in-law 88

morality

of jokes 7980, 82, 1423

of rabbis 813, 1489, 1589, 1624

of shnorrers 10510

Morgenbesser, Sydney 169

mothers

and comedians 967

and daughters 84, 901

and food 6971, 1201

and guilt 6870, 8991, 967

and pride 8990, 913

and sons 85, 87, 8990, 917, 1201

negatives

blessings 504

curses 504

flipsides 49, 55, 64

kvetching 1719, 21, 23, 30, 117, 140

positive thinking 51

repetition 6, 63, 11617, 169, 173

neurosis

and paranoia 133

vs morality 6670

nervousness 154, 160, 175, 179

Old Jews Telling Jokes 1

Ostjuden

as shlemiels 32

and self-hatred 1415

on trains 33, 105

Paley, Grace 99

politics

American 62, 116

Israeli 11119

Soviet 624

Pryor, Richard 150, 153

punchlines 2, 4, 44, 102, 117

rabbis

folly of 734

hypocrisy of 813

vs other clergy 1278, 1312

sexual life of 734, 802

sporting life of 1579

wisdom of 1412, 1489, 1624

religion

Buddhism 26

Christianity 2526, 124, 126, 168

Islam 24

Judaism 24, 124, 126, 1323, 150

Orthodoxy 78

Rivers, Joan 100, 102

Roth, Philip 102

Portnoys Complaint 68, 97

Rudner, Rita 100

Sachs, Albie 124

shlemiels

vs shlimazels 9, 32, 167

of Chelm 52

men as examples of 13840

rabbis as examples of 734

God as example of 1378

Schneider, David 4647

Schumer, Amy 1034

Seinfeld, Jerry

Seinfeld 224, 43, 1336, 150

sense of humour

absurd 8

gallows 438, 53, 68, 1159

irony 1456

lack of 119, 174

offended by 10104