In:Humour in the Beginning: Religion, humour and laughter in formative stages of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism
Edited by Roald Dijkstra and Paul van der Velde
[Topics in Humor Research 10] 2022
► pp. 93–106
Divine mockery and laughing Rabbis
Published online: 27 October 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.10.09kip
https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.10.09kip
Abstract
My paper is dedicated to the role of humour in expressing theological ideas in the Babylonian
Talmud. As an example, I analyse the narrative with a strong theological focus. In stories of this kind the acting
characters are God and the Other involved in an ongoing collision. God plays the role of a scoffer, exposing the Other
as an object of derision. The real objects of the mockery are theological views that the narrator would not like to
have in his own environment: therefore, he projects them on the Other. Analysing appearances of mockery through
theological debates I will show that ridicule here does not demonize the Other or minimize his importance nor does it
pursue the goal of alienating him. As a rule, the laughter opens a moment of potential rupture in the continuity of
interactions and produces some re-organization in order to steer the interaction once more towards continuity rather
than towards chaotic turbulence. With the paradox, it is thoughtfully tried to subject the system of coexistence with
the Other to the shock caused by the usage of the weapon of laughter; however, after the laughing situation, the
previously inhabited borders are sought again in order to ensure the continuity of an updated order.
Keywords: mockery, beard, hair, masculinity, theology, narrative, rabbis, Arameans, Sennacherib, Assyria, Babylonian Talmud
Article outline
- Preliminary remarks
- “Had it not been a written verse, it would be impossible to say it.”
- King of Assyria, his beard, and the barber
- Satyricon and head shaving
- Conclusions
Notes Bibliography
References (30)
Artman P. T. (2019). Laughing in the Face of Patriarchy: Genesis Rabbah 17. Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies, 13, 63–85.
Bakhos, C. (2014). Reading Against the Grain: Humour and Subversion in Midrashic Literature. In G. Langer and C. Cordoni (Eds.), Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash, (pp.71–80). Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Beard, M. (2011). Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking. Berkley: University of California Press.
Diamond, E. (2009). “But Is It Funny? Identifying Humor, Satire, and Parody in Rabbinic Literature,” in L. J. Greenspoon (Ed.), Jews and Humor. Studies in Jewish Civilization 22 (Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization Harris Center for Judaic Studies October 25–26 (pp.33–53). West Lafayette: Purdue University Press.
Friedman, H. H. and Friedman, L. W. (2014). God Laughed: Sources of Jewish Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Friedman, H. H. and Friedman, L. W (2015). “The Humor of Divine Discourse in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinic Literature,” International Studies in Humour, 4(1), 2015, 23–43.
Halbertal, M. (1999). If it Were Not a Written Verse it Could Not be Said, Tarbiz, 68, 39–59 (in Hebrew).
Ilan, T. (2009). The Joke in Rabbinic Literature: Home-born or Diaspora Humor? In G. Tamer (Ed.), Humour in Arabic Culture (pp.57–75). Berlin: de Gruyter.
Ilan, T. & Kiperwasser, R. (2019). Virginity and Water: Between the Babylonian Talmud and Iranian Myth, in A. Hintze, D. Durkin-Meisterernst and C. Naumann (eds.), A Thousand Judgements: Festschrift for Maria Macuch (pp.193–208). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Kiperwasser, R. (2007–2008), "Rabba bar Bar Channa's Voyages," Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature, 22, 215–242 (in Hebrew).
(2017). Wives of Commoners and the Masculinity of the Rabbis: Jokes, Serious Matters and Migrating Traditions. Journal for the Study of Judaism, 48, 418–445.
(2018). A Spindle for the Caesars Daughter. In G. Herman, S. Dönitz & M. Piotrkowsky (Eds.), Sources and Interpretation in Ancient Judaism: For Tal Ilan at Sixty (pp.229–251). Leiden: Brill.
Kiperwasser R., (2021). "Facing Omnipotence and Shaping the Sceptical Topos”, Expressions of Sceptical Topoi in (Late) Antique Judaism, edited by Reuven Kiperwasser and Geoffrey Herman, Oldenbourg; De Gruyter, 2021, 101–124.
Kiperwasser, R. (2022). “Chatting with God and the Benefit of the Doubt”, Archiv für Religionswissenschaft (forthcoming).
Kiperwasser, R. & Shapira, D. (2014). Encounters between the Iranian Myth and Rabbinic Mythmakers in the Babylonian Talmud. In U. Gabbay & S. Secunda (Eds.), Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians, and Babylonians (pp.285–304). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Kovelman, A. B. (2005). Between Alexandria and Jerusalem: The Dynamic of Jewish and Hellenistic Culture. Leiden: Brill.
Kushelevsky, R. (1998). The Function of Humour in Three Versions of the Theme ‘‘Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi and the Angel of Death’’, Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore, 19–20, 329–344 (in Hebrew).
Lerner, J. A. (2006). “The Seal of a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court”. Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology, 1, 113–118.
Lewis, P. (1989). Comic Effects: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Humour in Literature. New York: SUNY Press.
Martineau, W. H. (1972). A Model of the Social Functions of Humor. In J. H. Goldstein, & P. E. McGhee (Eds.), The psychology of humour (pp.101–125). New York: Academic Press.
Panayotakis, C. (1994). Theatrical Elements in the Episode on Board Lichas’’ Ship (Petronius, Satyrica 99.5–115). Mnemosyne, 47, 596–624.
(2015). Encolpius and the Charlatans. In S. Panayotakis, G. Schmeling, & M. Pachalis (Eds.), Holy Men and Charlatans in the Ancient Novel (ANS 19) (pp.31–46). Groningen: Barkhuis.
Richlin, A. (1992). The Garden of Priapus. Sexuality & Aggression in Roman Humor. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sokoloff M. (2009). A Syriac Lexicon. A Translation from the Latin. Correction, Expansion, and Update of C. Brockelmann'’s Lexicon Syriacum. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.