Making Light :: One version of a rabbinical joke :: comments

One version of a rabbinical joke

I think it's a joke. It might be a parable. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Once there was...

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #1 from Jane Yolen

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 15:42:40 -0500

It begins like the old Chinese "Am I a butterfly dreaming I am a man or a man dreaming I am a butterfly dreaming I'm a man." And then it goes off toward a joke punchline.

Some jokes are parables, though parables are rarely jokes.

May have something to do with religious senses of humor. Or not.

Jane

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Posted November 26, 2002 3:42 PM by Jane Yolen

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #2 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 15:58:09 -0500

I'm pretty sure I have a sense of humor, but a lot of rabbinical stories leave me wondering whether I've gotten the point, or rather whether I've gotten the right point; and if I have, what lesson I'm supposed to take from it. On the other hand, they're good stories.

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Posted November 26, 2002 3:58 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #3 from James d. Macdonald

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 21:05:52 -0500

Why do you bother me with such foolishness? That question is so simple even my coachman can answer it.

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Posted November 26, 2002 9:05 PM by James d. Macdonald

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #4 from Avram

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 21:21:58 -0500

Traditionally, proper Jewish jokes are only funny in Yiddish.

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Posted November 26, 2002 9:21 PM by Avram

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #5 from David Moles

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 23:21:31 -0500

Gosh -- what did they tell before they had Yiddish to tell it in?

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Posted November 26, 2002 11:21 PM by David Moles

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #6 from Kevin J. Maroney

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 23:59:55 -0500

I believe that large parts of the Talmud are devoted to analyzing how funny the jokes all will be when Yiddish is invented.

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Posted November 26, 2002 11:59 PM by Kevin J. Maroney

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #7 from Jane Yolen

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 06:19:01 -0500

Now THAT's funny, Kevin.

Jane

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Posted November 27, 2002 6:19 AM by Jane Yolen

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #8 from Terry

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 12:24:49 -0500

Does anyone else think this might be how Bush decided he was an "oil man?"

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Posted November 27, 2002 12:24 PM by Terry

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #9 from Toni

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 13:16:18 -0500

Must be a parable because it sure ain't a joke.

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Posted November 27, 2002 1:16 PM by Toni

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #10 from myke

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 13:28:46 -0500

I guess Sephardic Jews never told Jewish jokes, or at least, no funny ones. They're not big Yiddish speakers.

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Posted November 27, 2002 1:28 PM by myke

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #11 from James D. Macdonald

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 19:31:44 -0500

So anyway, these two Sephardic Jews walk into a bar....

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Posted November 27, 2002 7:31 PM by James D. Macdonald

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #12 from Robert L

Thu, 28 Nov 2002 04:23:52 -0500

Actually, I just read an article (with samples of it) about Ladino, aka Judeo-Spanish, which was the language a lot of Sephardic Jews spoke; it's now largely a dead language. Being someone who speaks Spanish well, as well as knowing a bit of Yiddish from my mother, I can say that Ladino:Spanish::Yiddish:German. fQuie9n supo?

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Posted November 28, 2002 4:23 AM by Robert L

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #13 from Kip

Fri, 29 Nov 2002 10:59:18 -0500

Now he's still in that house, still holding that position and having someone else read the prayers, and the Bishop can't get back in.

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Posted November 29, 2002 10:59 AM by Kip

One version of a rabbinical joke -- comment #14 from Brittany

Sun, 01 Jun 2003 16:39:54 -0500

I think you are all missing the point. It is a parable, and the purpose it serves is to show that no matter what you wear on the outside, no matter what you are dressed to represent you are still the town drunk on the inside. Holyness is found in the spirit not in the vestments.

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Posted June 1, 2003 4:39 PM by Brittany