Some Aspects Of The Jewish Mentality As Seen Through Its Humour

Surviving the Ghetto
Any community which lives within a closed environment develops its own customs, its own habits, its own language and sometimes, his own "in-jokes". The Jewish communities, from which the majority of Jews in the room probably stem, had their roots in Eastern Europe. The forebears, especially in Eastern Europe might, unless they were very wealthy, have lived within a ghetto. The major feature of life was poverty, misery, constant fear of starvation and pogroms - which is why the Jews left in large numbers at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. They were deprived of a secular education, banned from universities, banned from the professions, and could not leave the village without an internal passport.

So how did they survive that sort of existence? They survived by turning-in on themselves and developing a tremendous enthusiasm for their own Jewish heritage. The result was that the ghetto, to which the Jews were confined by a political system, became a ghetto in which they confined themselves willingly, because they thought that it was the one way they could survive without disappearing or assimilating into the general mass. They became most enthusiastic about Jewish tradition - about the Bible, and the Talmudic commentaries. The heroes of these communities were the Rabbis; they became focal points. The other means the Jews used to survive was a tremendous obsession with the ritual aspect of Judaism.

Preserving an Identity
One of the main means of preserving their identity was to look forward to observing the Sabbath in as strictly a traditional way as possible. The attraction of the Sabbath was that if you lived through the week in absolute poverty, you hadn't very much to eat, you skimped and scraped and starved in order to live like a king or queen, comparatively speaking, on the Sabbath. The Sabbath became a very joyful occasion. For 25 hours you escaped from the troubles and traumas of the world. You had high degrees of happiness; you had happy moments, and the next moment you had a pogrom - a tragedy. This was reflected in the Jewish theatre where plays were neither a complete tragedy nor a complete comedy. The stories that the Jews told about themselves in the theatre expressed this kind of bitterness, and you saw in those stories their enthusiasm for their own particular heritage.

Realism and Pragmatism
Napoleon wanted to reward his troops after a particularly successful battle. The soldiers were of many nationalities so he said to some of the heroes "Ask me what you would like and I will grant it to you". A Polish soldier asked for the restoration of Poland's sovereignty. "It shall be done my friend" replied Napoleon. Another said "I am a farmer, give me some land". "You shall have it" Napoleon replied. A German soldier asked for a brewery, and his request was granted. The Jewish soldier asked for a traditional Jewish delicacy (a type of herring), and Napoleon said that he would have it. Later on, when the Jew was asked by the other soldiers why he had asked for something really so trivial, he replied "I am a realist. If I ask for a herring maybe I will get it, but there is no way Napoleon is going to grant your requests". This story tells a lot about the Jewish mentality for realism and pragmatism.

"There were always books..."
There was a 19th Century sociologist, Henry Mayhew, who, when writing about life in the East End of London on a Friday/Saturday night, said that the men got drunk and beat-up their wives, but he noticed that there was peace and quiet in the Jewish houses. They were just as poverty stricken as the others, but although there may be little furniture there were always books. Books were something which, in the isolation of the ghetto, kept the Jews sane. A lot of stories have developed in relation to Talmudic studies, reasoning and the application of logic, and this aspect of the Jewish mentality was illustrated with a number of amusing anecdotes.

Inquisitiveness
An aspect of the Jewish mentality is said to be inquisitiveness, and this is acknowledged in the following story, which also highlights the importance attached to solvency:

A Jew was returning home to Budapest by train, a journey of around 8 or 9 hours. Opposite him in the railway carriage sat another Jew. When the train pulled out of the station the first Jew said to the man opposite him "Could you please tell me the time?". There was no reply. Thinking that he had not been heard, because the train was making a clatter over the points, the man repeated the question "Would you mind telling me the time please?". Again, no reply.

"Oh well," thought the enquirer, "if he doesn't want to speak to me that's all right, I won't bother with him." So the two Jews sat opposite each other in silence for some 8 hours. When the train was about half an hour away from their destination the Jew who had been asked for the time lent forward and said:

"I thought you might like to know that in actual fact I did hear your questions, and I assume that you would also like to know why I did not give you an answer. Well the reason is this: it is a long journey, and if I told you what the time was it wouldn't be the end of the matter. We would have talked to each other about this, that and the other. We would have discovered where we each live, what business interests we have, you would have discovered that I have an eligible daughter for marriage, you have an eligible son, we would have tried to arrange an engagement, and I'm not prepared to allow my son to marry the daughter of somebody who cannot afford to wear a watch."

Importance of the Rabbis
Rev Weisman spoke at length about the important place the Rabbis had in the communities, and he illustrated this with a number of stories: a common theme being different communities boasting about the qualities and miraculous powers of their own Rabbi vis á vis other Rabbis. This tendency to boasting can also be seen, for example, in families. This was illustrated with a number of Jewish "grandmother jokes". The central theme of these jokes being that 3 grandmothers are talking, and each in turn claims a more amazing accomplishment for their grandchild.

"A Lithuanian Jew happened to be on business in Poland..."
A Lithuanian Jew happened to be on business in Poland. He went to the synagogue where the custom was to have very early morning penitential prayers before High Holy Day services. In this village they started the prayers at 5am. The Lithuanian, who wanted to say the penitential prayers in the week before the New Year, went to the synagogue and wondered why the rabbi wasn't present.

The Poles said "You don't know our Rabbi, he is a very saintly man and he's gone to heaven. He's gone to intercede for us just before the Days of Awe."

The Lithuanian said "That's a a lot of baloney, absolute nonsense, how can he go to heaven? It's just not possible — I am going to find out where he really goes."

So, that night the Lithuanian crept into the Rabbi's house through a back door which had been left open, and hid under the bed. At about 3.30 am he heard the Rabbi getting up. He noticed that the Rabbi was not putting on his traditional rabbinic gaberdene, but was putting on the clothes of a peasant woodcutter; he took a large axe and a big sack and went out into the forest.

The Lithuanian followed him and saw that the Rabbi was chopping wood. From the forest the Rabbi then went to a house where the door was slightly open. On going in a woman's voice said "Where have you been, you're late?". The Lithuanian said to himself "Aha! this Rabbi is up to no good". But when he peered through the window he saw this bedridden woman. She couldn't get out of bed and the Rabbi was making a fire for her, sweeping the floor and making her breakfast while at the same time reciting his prayers. Then, when he had finished, he got abuse and invective from the woman who seemed completely unappreciative.

The Rabbi quickly went home and changed into his rabbinic garb, and then crept into the synagogue for the tail end of the service, and this is what he had been doing every morning. So when the Lithuanian came back into the synagogue his Polish friends said "Well you see, it's right isn't it? Our Rabbi went to heaven to intercede for us".

The Lithuanian said "Oh no, he didn't go to heaven, he went higher than heaven".

This illustrates different aspects of how the Rabbi becomes a central feature of so much humour, and so much of the sadness and happiness of the Jewish tradition.

The Matchmaker
Another great tradition is that of the Matchmaker. This must be seen in context. The Jews tended to remain in the same village and married amongst themselves, and there were associated problems of inbreeding. The theme of some of the jokes are, from today's viewpoint, politically incorrect. They revolve around the activities of the Matchmaker who is trying to explain away the mental and physical defects and general unsuitability of a potential partner that he has found for a prospective bride or bridegroom. This sort of humour kept the community alive in the ghettos.

What is the significance of this humour?
We now come to the crux of the matter. What is the significance of this humour?

This type of humour helped the Jews to survive by being able to laugh at the tremendous poverty and misery which really was the hallmark of life in Eastern Europe. Humour is something that sometimes develops in situations of terrible misery, and we have heard of humour even in the concentration camps. This humour represents a world that no longer exists. It was wiped out by the Germans in World War II. It is doubtful whether there will be a community anywhere in the Jewish world where humour of this kind will develop to the extent which has been described here. It is really a memorial to the people who are no longer here. It is a memorial to 6 million dead.

Rev Weisman ended by saying that when he reads these stories, and thinks about them and tells them, he is thinking of a world which was vital, highly intellectual, intelligent, and which has gone.

- Bernard Tiley