So, this popped up in my Twitter feed this morning. It’s really from the Manischewitz company, but it’s not really a product (yet, and if it ever is, I’ll have to avoid it—at least during Passover—or it will just guarantee that I eat all the chametz within a three mile radius, three miles being about as far as I’d be willing to walk and of course after eating marijuana macaroons, I would not be driving). I’m finding it funnier than I should, partially because I have a twelve year old boy’s sense of humor, and partially because Jewish humor is always such an important antidote to Jewish suffering.
A lesson I’ll need to remember as we continue this research trip, because frankly some days what I’m finding is leaving me a little dour and humorless. (Thanks to my cousin Seth for reminding me of the importance of joy even in dark times!)
The truth is that I a lot of what I know about being Jewish, I learned from Jewish comedians. (Did you know that Jackie Mason started out his career as a rabbi? It’s true!) I suspect this is true for a lot of Americans who grew up in places with very small Jewish communities, and who as a result encountered other Jewish people more often in film and TV than in their daily lives.
Who are your favorite Jewish comedians? Drop me links to their work below, because I’d love some laughter. I haven’t been doing a good job of balancing out the sad parts of this trip with reminders of the joyful parts of being a Jew. Send me some good laughs, friends! And, to those who celebrate, happy almost-the-end-of-Pesach and, as the good people at the Manischewitz company reminded me, happy day-after-420. Next year, in the parking lot of a jam band concert!
here's a clip of Lewis Black to lighten your day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRSVvcUjI_o