No Joke (37 page)

Lebensohn, Micah Joseph,
159

Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich,
160
,
162

Levenson, Jon,
246

Levi, Yeshayahu “Shaike,”
199
,
201
.
See also
Hagashash hahiver

Levin, Shmaryahu,
26

Levi Yitzhok of Berdichev, Rabbi,
115

Lewis, Jerry (Joseph Levitch),
122
,
201

Lexicon of Yiddish Literature
,
93
–
94

Liebermann, Max,
242

Life Is Beautiful
(Benigni),
179

literacy, Jewish,
68
,
228
,
233
.
See also
education

Lodz,
144
,
155
,
176

Loew, Judah,
222

London,
12
–
13
,
21
,
40
,
73
,
80
,
106
,
110
,
113
,
118
,
230

Lower East Side,
14
,
96

Lubitsch, Ernst,
179
–
80
,
242
;
To Be or Not to Be
,
179
–
80

Mad Men
,
230

madness,
18
,
25
,
88
,
102
,
108
,
207
,
257n3

maggidim,
127

“Make 'Em Laugh,”
230
–
31

Malamud, Bernard,
131
–
32
,
237
;
A New Life
,
132

Malbim (Meir Leibush ben Jehiel Mikhel Weiser),
81

male humor,
83
,
85
,
211
,
233

male, the Jewish.
See
masculinity

Man Booker Prize,
239
,
241

Mandelstam, Nadezhda,
160

Mandelstam, Osip,
160
–
61
; “Kremlin mountaineer,”
160

Manger, Itsik,
92
–
96
;
Songs of the Megillah
,
95

Markfield, Wallace:
To an Early Grave
,
132

Markish, Peretz,
156

Marranos,
57

marriage,
32
,
74
,
109
,
118
,
134
,
136
,
188
,
191
,
257n3

marshalik,
67

Martin, Dean,
201

Marx Brothers,
24
,
77
,
230
;
Duck Soup
,
230
;
Night at the Opera
,
230

Marx, Groucho,
118
–
19
,
127
,
145
,
230

Marxism,
170

Marx, Karl,
156
–
57

masculinity,
129
–
31
,
134
,
136
–
38
,
237

MASH
,
205
–
6

Maskilim (“Enlighteners”),
68
–
69
,
73
,
76
,
100

Mason (Maza), Jackie,
129
–
30

matchmakers,
32
,
71
,
80

maxims,
86
–
87
,
151
–
52
,
229
.
See also
proverbs

Mayer, Hans,
47
–
48

Mazeh, Rabbi Jacob,
157

Megillah.
See
Esther

Meir, Golda,
186

melodrama,
173
–
75
,
231

mentshele
,
187
,
263n5

meshumodim
(apostates),
91
–
92

messianism,
44
,
87
,
159

midrash,
13
,
24
,
94

military humor,
166
,
185
,
194
–
97
,
199
,
204
–
6

mimicry,
45
,
47
,
53
,
64

Mishnah,
88

Misnagdim,
69
–
70
,
80

misreadings,
81
,
163
,
255n14

misunderstandings: of Jewish humor,
4
; as joke technique,
190
,
198

mitzvahs,
26
,
84

Mizrahim (Sephardim),
199
–
200
,
205
,
209
–
11

Mogulescu, Zelig,
231

Molière,
70
,
212

morality: and joking,
48
,
50
,
71
,
77
,
83
,
153
,
179
,
228
–
29
,
237
–
39
,
242
–
43

Moscow,
155
,
157
,
162
,
165

Moses,
43
,
76

Moses Little Lump,
49
–
50
,
79

Moshonov, Moni,
210

movies.
See
films

Muni, Paul (Meshulim Meier Weisenfreund),
125
–
26

Muslims,
20
–
21
,
211
,
240
–
41
,
243

Mussolini, Benito,
151

mysticism,
69
,
71
–
72
,
75
–
76
,
136

Nadir, Moshe (Isaac Reiss),
92
–
93
,
96
–
97
,
125
; “My First Deposit,”
96

Nahman of Bratslav,
43
–
44
,
76
–
77
,
98

nationalism,
22
,
65
,
95
,
183

Nazism,
136
,
138
,
148
–
50
,
155
,
177
,
179
,
215
,
219
,
228
,
240

nebbishes,
129

need for humor.
See
reliance on humor

Nevo, Ofra,
210

New York,
14
,
57
,
73
,
84
,
92
,
96
–
97
,
103
,
122
,
185
,
230

New Yorker
,
118

New York Friars' Club,
122

Nicholas II,
84

Night at the Opera
(Marx Brothers),
230

nirtzeh,
150

Nobel Prize for Literature,
93
,
193
,
235
,
263n10

noses, Jewish,
37
,
41
–
42
,
45
,
59
–
62
,
90
,
252n15

Nudelman, Moishe (Mark),
103

Numbers, Book of,
170

O'Connor, Donald,
230
–
31

Odessa,
27
,
159
,
161
,
173
–
74

offensiveness,
2
,
79
,
136
,
146
,
219
,
234
–
36

Old Jews Telling Jokes
,
243

Olsvanger, Immanuel,
3
–
4
,
249n1

Only Yesterday
(Agnon),
18

Oppenheim, Menashe,
146

origins of Jewish humor,
13
,
19
–
20
,
67

Oring, Elliott,
13
,
21
,
194
–
96

Orwell, George,
150

Oslo Peace Accords,
218

Ostjude
(East European Jew),
59

Palestine,
18
,
30
–
31
,
127
,
136
,
138
,
194
,
196
,
217
,
219

Palestinians,
209
,
240

Palmah,
194
–
97
,
199

paradox,
27
–
28
,
75
–
77
,
88
,
143
,
153
,
228

Paris,
199
,
225

parody,
40
,
54
,
87
,
108
,
160
,
169
,
191
,
204
,
210

passivity, Jewish,
178
,
209
.
See also
accommodation

Passover,
80
,
89
,
98
,
150
,
152
,
156

Peres, Shimon,
202

Peretz, I. L.,
57

Perl, Joseph,
71
–
73
;
Revealer of Secrets
,
71

Petrov, Evgeny,
160
–
61
;
The Twelve Chairs
,
161

physical comedy,
230
–
33

Pinkas Synagogue (Prague),
221

Plimpton, George,
132

pogroms,
60
–
61
,
73
,
82
,
95
,
143

Polacek, Karel,
224

Poland,
27
,
57
,
70
,
79
,
93
–
95
,
97
,
106
,
118
,
143
–
46
,
149
,
155
,
158
,
176
,
186
,
212
,
219
,
225
–
26

Poliakov, Yisrael “Poli,”
199
,
201
.
See also
Hagashash hahiver

political censorship.
See
censorship

political correctness,
200
,
211
,
234
–
39

political humor,
71
,
145
–
47
,
164
–
66
,
187
–
88
,
202

Potter, Stephen,
112
–
13

powerlessness, Jewish,
20
,
76
,
153
,
182
–
84
,
186
,
209

Prague,
51
–
53
,
221
–
22
,
224
–
25

Prawer, Sigmund,
46
–
47

prayer,
19
,
23
,
65
,
72
,
77
,
82
–
83
,
86
,
89
–
91
,
114
,
137
,
144
,
155
–
56

“Princess Sabbath” (Heine),
14
–
16

Producers, The
(Brooks),
179
–
81

profanity,
16
,
93
,
130
,
136
.
See also
vulgarity

professional comedy,
12
,
77
,
104
–
6
,
122
–
32
,
144
,
187
,
197
,
199
,
218
.
See also
Borscht Belt
;
comedians

prosperity,
78
,
80
,
129
,
137
,
239

Protestantism,
42
,
44
,
48
,
230
,
258n11

proverbs, Yiddish,
23
,
86
–
88
,
153
.
See also
maxims

Pryor, Richard,
136

psychoanalysis,
8
,
12
,
32
,
63
,
133

punch lines,
1
,
6
,
82
,
87
,
125
,
127
,
142
,
219
,
233

punning,
45
,
50
,
80
–
81
,
153
,
229
–
30
,
252n14
.
See also
wordplay

Purim,
23
,
67
,
95
,
105
–
6
,
151
,
209

rabbinic exegesis,
80
,
191
,
210
,
228

rabbinic tradition,
22
,
127
,
191
,
197
,
210

rabbinic wit (
sikhes khulin
),
80
–
85

rabbis,
13
,
21
,
26
,
30
,
69
–
73
,
77
,
88
,
93
,
100
–
102
,
109
,
115
,
128
–
29
,
140
,
157
,
209
,
222
,
233
–
34
; Hasidic,
70
–
72
; jokes about,
19
,
32
,
81
–
82
,
87
,
91
,
116
; Purim,
23
,
106
; Talmudic,
22
,
80
–
81
,
224