Jewish Humor

“And Sarah said, God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears, will laugh with me”
– Genesis 21:6

How did Jewish humor come into being? As usual, Jews have to answer that question with another question. Hence, how does one define Jewish humor? If we define it as humor that Jews created, one can assume that the first joke probably appeared together with the first Jew. In fact, the Bible talks about people who tell jokes and laugh at them.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, who took an interest in Jewish humor and even collected Jewish jokes, claimed that the most important feature of Jewish humor is making fun of oneself. In other words, it is humor that facilitates self-criticism and acknowledgement of one’s weaknesses.