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While my son is in Israel this week and into next, I spend a lot of time scanning the net to keep track of what's going on and to make sure he is traveling a good distance from danger zones. In my surfing I found a site called Old Jews Telling Jokes that was put up by a video director named Sam Hoffman and which gets updated on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
My dad can tell a story. But he'd prefer to tell a joke.
Storytelling is a Jewish tradition. You've probably seen Fiddler on the Roof. Whenever they ask the Rabbi a question, he tugs thoughtfully on his beard and says "let me tell you a story." Then they sing.
Jokes are like stories, but shorter and funnier. Old jokes tend to have a stigma, but they only last if they're good. Some of the best ones provide a window to the culture of a bygone era. They can reveal the concerns of a generation or even the generation before. Anxieties of coming to a new country, of prospering, of assimilating, of having families, of fearing and worrying about, well, everything. Humor was and is the ultimate anti-depressant.
My father gathered twenty of his friends to share their favorite jokes. We set three rules for the production: the joke-tellers were to be Jewish, at least sixty years of age and they were to tell their favorite joke - the one that always kills.
I'll warn you up front that these jokes are funny, well told, precisely videoed... and all dirty. If it is the kind of joke you are offended by, don't go there.
If you want a great laugh (and you don't have to be Jewish) click on www.oldjewstellingjokes.com and have a great laugh.
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