Humor is part of the Jewish soul. It gives us the ability to laugh at our tragedies, question authority, and make meaning out of the challenges we face. In fact, when asked what it means to be Jewish, more people chose “a sense of humor” than religious observance or communal belonging. What is it about Jewish life that has made humor so central?

In this course, we treat jokes as texts, reading them as we would Torah, midrash, or modern literature. Across ten sessions, we journey through Jewish history from the Bible and the Talmud to the Yiddish world, the Borscht Belt, and contemporary comedy. Along the way, we encounter figures like Sholem Aleichem, Fanny Brice, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld, and Sarah Silverman, asking what their humor reveals about the times and communities they reflect.

As Jewish life changes, so does Jewish humor. Sometimes rooted in deep textual knowledge, sometimes shaped by the experience of being outsiders, Jewish comedy has long transformed hardship into insight and laughter into connection. By exploring the jokes Jews tell and retell, we uncover not only what makes us laugh, but what binds us together across generations.