Hebrews Healing Through Humor

One thing that everyone agrees on, from the rabid, Jew-hating Nazi to the philosemitic Evangelical Christian, is that Jews are funny. From Mel Brooks and the Marx Brothers to Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Stewart, Jews play an outsized role in American - and, by extension, global - entertainment. With Jews penning some of Hollywood's biggest hits, the Jewish jokes emanating from the screen, be they spoken by Jew or Gentile, reflect an inter-generational trauma interpreted through humor.

Jonah Hill's latest Netflix venture, You People, is causing all kinds of conniptions within Jewish and broader media. When Allison Josephs talks about the frustration of seeing Jewish canards onscreen but being powerless to object, I know how she felt. A list of the movie's cringiest jokes summarizes why Jews are feeling so uncomfortable with the film.

You People isn't the first movie to tackle Judaism on the big screen or who an American Jew is. Jonah Hill himself stars in one of the most infamous Jewish scenes of modern comedy, Knocked Up's nightclub ode to Spielberg's Munich, an unscripted moment where the Jewish stars praise the movie as their wingman.

Here we have three modern-American Jews talking about the positive portrayal of Jews in cinema. While Jews throughout America reacted to Munich with mixed feelings, some saying it is worthy of a boycott while others were praising it, there is no doubt it that it wouldn't have made it to the silver screen if the actors, writers, and directors weren't all Jewish. It's a joke that touches on Jewish victimhood in cinema, revenge fantasy, and how Jewish men are viewed in modern American dating life. The entire Seth Rogan/Jonah Hill parade of movies shows Jews as funny schlubs who view their Judaism through a secular progressive lens. As a schlubby, secular, progressive Jew who thinks he's funny, I've long felt a kinship with this humor because it's MY humor. I am not just the target audience for this joke; I am right there beside them, making equally outrageous comments invoking the long-suffering history of my people to make myself and others laugh.

Jewish victimhood has long been a favorite of Jewish comedians, understandable as a good comedian critiques modern life through the lens of their experience, even in the darkest times of Jewish history. In his 1946 book, Man's Search for Meaning, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankel wrote, 'To discover that there was any semblance of art in a concentration camp must be surprise enough for an outsider, but he may be even more astonished to hear that one could find a sense of humor there as well; of course, only the faint trace of one, and then only for a few seconds or minutes. Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation"... "The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living." 

Jews, myself included, use humor for everything from a defense mechanism to a method of flirtation, but mostly we use it for therapy. There are few things you can do than grit and make a joke while cleaning swastika graffiti from Jewish gravestones or preparing a roster of security guards to protect a synagogue of Jews wanting to pray. Jokes bore from a place of oppression, violence, and fear are jarring to the ears, especially to those unfamiliar with the emotional burden that comes with being a Jew in today's world.

Judaism carries an unspoken intergenerational trauma that comes with distrusting the society around us. Too often, we've seen agents of the state declare Jews persona non grata, strip us of citizenship and benefits, and take our worldly possessions down to our teeth. Sometimes they institute policies of ghettoization; other times, they torture and expel us, but each time it ends with destitution, dispersion, or destruction. Growing up with this history, continuously reinforced by a never-ending torrent of antisemitism in all its forms, leads to a twisted sense of humor and an ever-current passport.

It remains a point of Jewish pride that so many of our fellow members of the tribe are playing hugely impactful roles in media and entertainment, as it gives Jewish humor and voice permanent placement in the cultural zeitgeist. Yet, we fill our humor with self-deprecation because it's how we deal with the reality of life, where you are seen as the personification of privilege, sub-human, insidiousness, and greed; when all you want is not to be anxious all the time...and maybe a nice bagel.