Jewish Wit and Humour.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 185, 4 August 1894, Page 10 (Supplement)

Jewish Wit and Humour.

What the Chief Rabbi Says About It.

Quaint Stoeies of Jewish Wit.

Chief Rabbi Adlek has succeeded well in gathering, aa he deaired, a pot of honey from many flowers of Hebrew literature. His humorous lecture at the London Insti" tution in January last, preserved in the March number of fehe '[Nineteenth Century,'may do more to unite the hearts of Jew and Gentile in kindly feeling than many solemn appeals against the tyranny of ancient prejudice and of modern despots. The lecturo is sufficient in itself to combat the idea of Ronan that the Semitic race i 3 devoid of the faculty of laughter, and well adapted fco dispose oi the letter at least of the sweeping assertion of Carlyle that the Jewish peojfle have Bhown no trace of humour. Indeed the reply of the Chief Rabbi to theso critics is most amusing. The twinkle of genuine fun in the speaker's eyes may be imagined as he eives it from a Talmudic adage. 'If one person tells thee that thou hast ass's ears, do nob mind it; but if two persona mako this assertion at once, place a pack-saddle upon thy back.' He declines the saddle, notwithstanding, of unmitigated solemnity for himself and his race, and gives pithy reasons for doing so, even in face of Carlyle and Renan. Of course, tlio great critics do not mean exactly what they say. They are in the comparative mood, and any visitor, even to the market of Gibraltar, may see the meaning of Renan in these stolid, turbaned, whiterobed Arabs selling, with all the serious dignity of patriarchs, among a motley, giggling crowd of Europeans, oranges at four a penny. And the most limited knowledge ot the literature of Jew and Gentile casts litrht upon the meaning of Carlylc. Playful wit and humour, quip and crank, grim jest and withering irony, may be found in the Hebrew Scriptures and Hebrew Midrash, and even brilliantly scinctillato from the pages of modern writers belonging to the Hebrew nation ; but, for serious reasons, well given by the chief Rabbi, the Jewish race, in comparison with Gentile races, may bo said —without any intentional detraction from real merit—to be still without any commanding prose and poetic literature of a humorous kind. The lecturer knows this well, and givea the characteristics of Hebrew humour, as we should expect, most accurately. • The mirth of the Hebrew does not come to him spontaneously. It is not bhe result of an overabundance of animal spirits. It is not an outcome of the mere exuberance of being. I would rather liken it to the weapon with which a beneficent Maker has provided his feoble creatures, whereby they have been enabled to survive in the fierce struggle for oxistencß. There is an undercurrent of sadness even in the mirth of the Hebrew. Even tho scherzo of his song moves in tho minor key.' We might have expected from this Hebrew scholar some more telling illustrations of humorous irony from the Hebrew Scriptures. The grim jests of tho Hebrew Samson, for example, ssem an exception to the rule thab would deny exuberance of animal being to the Jewish humourist. The brands tied to the tailsof thejackale, the gates of Gaza carried off, and his pun upon tho word as^es, similar in form and sound to heaps of masses, when he slays with the jawbone of an ass a mass ot Philistines— not to speak of other episodes in his wild career of passion, and of hia playful riddle—seem more effective than the illustrations given from the sarcastic ridicule cast upon idolatry by Elijah and Isaiah. The story of Hainan and Mordecai, as adorned by the Midrash or Rabbinical paraphase, is more to the point, and tho illustrations of wit and humour from writings of modern date are numerous and captivating. Yet one marvels that the chief Rabbi should quoto so freely from such an arch-heretic as Heine and quite overlook in London the writings of Benjamin Disraeli. Perhaps the blood and humour of Lord Beaconsfield did not commend themselves to the lecturer aa of pure Jewish strain. The following from tho Midrash are charming in their teaching for wj^o men as well as for the nursery. The impotent presumptions of petty and haughty men are well set forth in the ambitious male swallow, and tho humbler wisdom of women in his mate : A swallow once built his nest on the chores of the sea. It happened the day was boisterous, and the waves were lashed into fury by the tempest, bo thab they bursb upon the lind and destroyed the little nest. The swallow was wroth and eaid, • Wait, ocean, until I punish thee for thy arrogance. I will turn the sea into dry land, and the land into a fountain of waters. ' And be

took some drops of water into his'DH^JH poured thorn upon the sand, and at-ji^B flew to and fro and picked up some &*)■■' of sand and threw them into theib?-B imagining with conscious pride tbitt'H purpose had now been fully accotpplubl B Hia mate looks on in wonderment^ B wiser than her consort, she asks, 'ThioSß thou thus to destroy the work otttauß mighty Creator V * ■ B The Emperor Hadrian, conversing .i B Rabbi Gamaliel, is casting ridicule obaß Bible. 'Why, your God is sented therein as a thief ! He simuSß Adam in his sleep and ro'bbod liiinolnJM of his rib 3.' The Rabbi's daughter »uB is present, craves permission to reriuK the Emperor. This ia granted her< /j?B first leb me implore thy itnmM protection, puissant sire !' the exfiß ' A grave outrage has been perprßt&y I upon our house. Under cover ot oigEß audacious thief broke into our house tool B silver flagon from our chest of'pu'B and left a golden one in Ua luifl • Whab a welcome thief,' cries HaS.B ' would thab such robbery mighb vfcjß palace every day I' 'And waa nolttiß Creator such a thief as this,' archly &■ joins the blushing damsel, ' who deprive! ■ Adam of a rib, and in lieu thereof gava bin B a loving, lovely bride.' H The Jewish preacher's illustration of J^B century, of workmen blowing wift.B great bellows a furnace of coal without kB has an application for all lands. *Ab g»B brethren, the sermon is the bellows wVi I we may hopo to be effective to.atitiut.H enthusiasm the faith which glows withii ■ the human heart, bub if there be ml, B spark of religious instinct, for whil^B the preacher's most forcible plea availf; I The courtship of Moses Mendelstbifrjjß capital. One mighb hope that tho Tbeo- B sophist, deficient in physical charms from I an unselfish desire in his laab ro-incarnatioa I to beautify the maiden appointed him btl boneficenb fate, might find her as opeiß bo conviction to very doubtful argumentu I the blue-eyed damsel wooed and won L ■ the subtle metaphysician. ' : ■ "In Heine'and Borne,' say the Obit!l Rabbi,' we probably reach the bightsduil most perfect evolutions of Hebrew wit wrf ■ humour.' Heine, a real voice and no.men■ echo in literature, however erratic,hWby I his Hebrew power and sadness a largeplact I in_ the oi: tho lecturer. Yet'Heimß said, ' I could never pet on co far in I Hebrew as my watch, which hadlmwl familiar intercourse with pawnbrokers, ;Mjl in this way contracted many• Jevrah habits : for example ie would not) Joium Saturdays.' Lying upon his mabtrass'iii his last illness he read all the medical booti be could find upon his disease and said to a friend :—'l do not know what) goodthii reading is to me accept thab it will qualify me in Heaven to give lectures on-'.tht ignorance of doctors on earth concerning diseases of the spinal marrow. 1 - We must pasa over the many botismti of this most readable article, from ancieht and modern writers of the Hebrefrsjace, and give as a good sample of Jewish jocularity the following :*- A Mr Goldsmith professes Christianity under the name of Mr Smith. A member of the Synagogue exclaimß, ' What a fool I This is the first Jew who has thrown away his gold.' A Jewish Rabbi, at; an undenominational festive gathering, has an excellent reply at) hand for a Catholic priesb, who, referring to a joint of roasb pork said, • When will the time come that I may have the privilege of serving you with'a slice of this delicious meat?' 'When I have the gratification of assisting at your Reverence's wedding.' The Chief Rabbi, in a humble spirit, claims but little originality in this lecture, and yet displays a good deal in its conception and method. If he has nob been able to reveal the humorous as a marked characteristic of the Jewish race, he has certainly shown that this highly honoured and much chastened historical people shares with the Gentiles in all that is mirth-provoking, genial, pleasant; and playful in human nature. '; (