Funnier Things Have Happened

Torah Jews have something of a complex relationship with humor. We have a well-placed concern over engaging in leitzanus, which is un-Jewish, prohibited behavior, as stated by Chazal (Megillah 25b), and depending on its topic, humor may also involve lashon hara, halbanas panim, and other prohibited types of speech.

As practiced by comedians in the world at large, humor has a deservedly negative reputation for involving foul language, wildly inappropriate material, character assassination, and more. This makes us dubious, for good reason, about the possibility of truly wholesome humor.

Yet humor fills a basic human need. Walk into a large room of any sort, filled with people conversing, and you’re likely to observe a great many of them smiling and laughing, sharing a humorous moment, a quip or anecdote, seeking to elicit a smile or laugh from the other.

Perhaps we Torah Jews, aspiring to lives filled with the pursuit of meaning, have a particular need for a way to lighten up now and then. We’re busy doing serious things, and that’s precisely as it should be, because life is serious. But the line between serious and somber, between intense and plain tense, is a thin one and too easily blurred. There’s a need to strike a balance, living life earnestly and seeking to extract every moment’s precious potential, while maintaining an upbeat, relaxed disposition (at least after 9 a.m. or that first cup of coffee, whichever comes first) and being able to laugh at ourselves and accept our limitations.