SURVIVAL AGAINST ALL ODDS - III

An essential ingredient for survival is a sense of humour – in particular the ability to laugh at oneself. I doubt if this was an issue which was discussed with the Tibetan Buddhists at their historic meeting with the Jewish delegation, although the Dalai Lama apparently had a ready wit.

Jewish humor is unique, not only because it pokes fun at our short­comings and weaknesses, but because it reflects upon the history of our people. The following is an example illustrating the Jewish instinct of survival:

“A Jew in Russia falls into a lake, and, not knowing how to swim, he frantically screams, “Help, save me!” But his calls are totally ignored by all present, including a number of soldiers standing nearby. In des­peration, the Jew yells out, “Down with the czar!” At that moment, the soldiers immediately jump in, yank the Jew out of the water, and haul him off to prison.”

 

To stay alive, in spite of all forms of oppression, has been one of the major concerns of the Jewish people through the centuries, and they found many ways to convey this message in humorous terms.

In his famous memoir “Man’s Search for Meaning” - written after surviving the horrors of three years in several concentration camps, Victor Frankl wrote: “Humour, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.”

The following joke is one example of Frankl’s ready sense of humour : "An old Jewish man, who had immigrated to Berlin, is walking in the park when a bird overhead lets loose its droppings - which landed right on the old man’s hat. He takes off his hat, looks at it and says: “For the gentiles, you sing!”

The Midrash (mode of biblical interpretation) is the source to the following joke, demonstrating that anti-Semitism will probably always exist - whether with provocation or without: "Ignace Paderewski, Poland’s post-World War 1 premier was discussing his country’s problems with President Woodrow Wilson. 'If our demands are not met at the conference table,” he said, 'I can foresee serious trouble in my country. Why, my people will be so irritated that many of them will go out and massacre the Jews.' 'And what will happen if your demands are granted?' asked President Wilson. 'Why, my people will be so happy that they will get drunk and go out and massacre the Jews.'"

 

 

"Prominent scientists have just announced that, as a result of the global warming phenomenon, an uncontrollable flood would soon devastate Planet Earth and bring death to every living being. There were only three days left before doomsday. The science and biology students of the universities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Negev, together with the leading scientists of the Haifa Technion and the Weizmann Institute, immediately go on the air and say:

Fellow Jews, everywhere, we have heard the terrible news, and we must not waste any time, for we just have three days to learn how to live under water!”