Laughing Jewishly

May I cordially welcome you to join me in my initiative to contribute to a more harmonious and convivial world. We certainly need every means we can summon to achieve such a world notwithstanding the elusiveness of the process.

Rather unusually, I have concentrated on humour. Why the humble joke you may ask. I am not altogether sure. What I do know is that since teenagerhood I have been besotted with stories, anecdotes and sayings that generate laughter and a feeling of pleasure.

Jewish humour in particular has proved a pivotal ingredient of my sense of identity as well as of my bond with both Jews and non-Jews. My rapport with them has always been reinforced through sharing myriad aspects of Jewish humour. I have cherished literally hundreds of examples of humour derived from my Jewish experience. Because they have been central in my life, and in the lives of the Jewish people universally, I took the plunge a few years ago and began to collect and edit jokes and sayings which had enriched me beyond measure in my day-to-day life. A collection of over 500 was the result. Given a degree of duplication and the deletion of any I regarded as crude or offensive, the compilation is about half that number.

May I suggest you first read the essay below which will give you my personal perspective on the nature of Jewish humour. Thereafter, the compilation is in your hands.

I hope you gain much pleasure and satisfaction from immersing yourself in whatever way you prefer.

— Sidney Bloch