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HaMakom Continuing Education Presents
Jewish Humor - No Joke! The Evolution of Jewish Comedy From The Bible to Today
When:
Tuesday December 9, at 7PM
Zoom
Presenter:
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
About:
Using as references several (mostly) recent books* describing Jewish humor, the speaker will provide a whirlwind summary of Jewish comedy beginning in the earliest Jewish texts and leading up to the present time. Some attention will be paid to Jewish comedians in the United States, perhaps the most familiar and popular variant of Jewish humor, and examples will be provided to illustrate various points. Participants will gain some exposure to the origins of this unique form of humor. The talk is designed to appeal to a broad (Jews and non-Jews) audience. Time permitting, there will be an opportunity for attendees to share their own favorite Jewish jokes as well.
*References (incomplete list):
Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious - Sigmund Freud
Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews - Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America - Lawrence J. Epstein
No Joke: Making Jewish Humor - Ruth R. Wisse
Jewish Comedy: A Serious History - Jeremy Dauber
Meet:
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
Jack Shlachter is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for over thirty years with much briefer stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Atomic Energy Agency, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the latter two based in Vienna, Austria. At Los Alamos, Jack proudly served as the division leader of Theoretical Division. In parallel, Jack was ordained as a rabbi in 1995. He was the rabbi and spiritual leader for the Jewish congregation in Los Alamos for many years, was the rabbi in Center Moriches, NY, during his years at Brookhaven, and now serves as rabbi of HaMakom, a congregation in Santa Fe, NM as well as the Los Alamos Jewish Center. He has also provided itinerant rabbinic support to far-flung Jewish communities including those in Vienna, Beijing, Warsaw, and Bangkok, and he led the first worship service in the reconsecrated, oldest synagogue in New Mexico located in Las Vegas, NM.