Texts about Laughter

Texts from different time periods about laughter

[Proverbs (“Mishlei”), the second book of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings, contains guidance for living a wise, moral, and righteous life, in the form of poems and short statements.]

משלי י״ד:י״ג

גַּם־בִּשְׂח֥וֹק יִכְאַב־לֵ֑ב וְאַחֲרִיתָ֖הּ שִׂמְחָ֣ה תוּגָֽה׃

Proverbs 14:13

Even in laughter the heart aches: and the end of that mirth is grief.

[The Talmud is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about law, philosophy, and biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries and structured as commentary on the Mishnah. Tractate Pesachim (“Passover Festivals”) is part of the Talmud and discusses laws relating to Passover.]

פסחים קי״ז א:י״ז

כי הא דרבה מקמי דפתח להו לרבנן אמר מילתא דבדיחותא ובדחו רבנן ולבסוף יתיב באימתא ופתח בשמעתא

Pesachim 117a:17

That explanation is like that practice of Rabba’s. Before he began teaching halakhato the Sages, he would say some humorous comment, and the Sages would be cheered. Ultimately, he sat in trepidation and began teaching the halakha.

[Tractate Makkot (“Lashes”) is part of the Talmud and discusses court-administered punishments.]

מכות כ״ד א:ל״ג-כ״ד ב:א׳

וּכְבָר הָיָה רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה וְרַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וְרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מְהַלְּכִין בַּדֶּרֶךְ, וְשָׁמְעוּ קוֹל הֲמוֹנָהּ שֶׁל רוֹמִי מִפְּלָטָהּ [בְּרָחוֹק] מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים מִיל, וְהִתְחִילוּ בּוֹכִין, וְרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מְשַׂחֵק. אָמְרוּ לוֹ: מִפְּנֵי מָה אַתָּה מְשַׂחֵק? אָמַר לָהֶם: וְאַתֶּם מִפְּנֵי מָה אַתֶּם בּוֹכִים? אָמְרוּ לוֹ: הַלָּלוּ גּוֹיִם שֶׁמִּשְׁתַּחֲוִים לַעֲצַבִּים וּמְקַטְּרִים לַעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה יוֹשְׁבִין בֶּטַח וְהַשְׁקֵט, וְאָנוּ, בֵּית הֲדוֹם רַגְלֵי אֱלֹהֵינוּ שָׂרוּף בָּאֵשׁ, וְלֹא נִבְכֶּה?! אָמַר לָהֶן: לְכָךְ אֲנִי מְצַחֵק, וּמָה לְעוֹבְרֵי רְצוֹנוֹ כָּךְ, לְעוֹשֵׂי רְצוֹנוֹ עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה.

Makkot 24a:33-24b:1

§ Apropos tribulations of exile and hope for redemption, the Gemara relates: And it once was that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva were walking along the road in the Roman Empire, and they heard the sound of the multitudes of Rome from Puteoli at a distance of one hundred and twenty mil. The city was so large that they were able to hear its tumult from a great distance. And the other Sages began weeping and Rabbi Akiva was laughing. They said to him: For what reason are you laughing? Rabbi Akiva said to them: And you, for what reason are you weeping? They said to him: These gentiles, who bow to false gods and burn incense to idols, dwell securely and tranquilly in this colossal city, and for us, the House of the footstool of our God, the Temple, is burntby fire, and shall we not weep? Rabbi Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing. If for those who violate His will, the wicked, it is so and they are rewarded for the few good deeds they performed, for those who perform His will, all the more so will they be rewarded.

[Likutei Moharan is a collection of Chasidic and mystical teachings by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who lived 1772-1810 in Ukraine.]

ליקוטי מוהר"ן, תנינא כ״ד:א׳:א׳

מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד, וּלְהִתְגַּבֵּר לְהַרְחִיק הָעַצְבוּת וְהַמָּרָה שְׁחֹרָה בְּכָל כֹּחוֹ.

Likutei Moharan, Part II 24:1:1

It is a great mitzvah to always be happy, and to make every effort to determinedly keep depression and gloom at bay.

[Samson Raphael Hirsch was a 19th-century German rabbi and philosopher, known for founding the Torah im Derech Eretz movement, which integrates traditional Jewish life with modern secular education.]
Commentary of Rav Hirsh on Genesis 17:17

In any case, צחוק, is triggered only by noticing something ridiculous or absurd, and there can be no greater absurdity than the expectation now held by Avraham. Avraham was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. In the course of their long married life, Avraham had no children by Sarah. Now, practically at the end of their lives they were to have a son! The birth of this child would be totally unexpected; and even if he were to be born, he would be an only child, and in all likelihood would be orphaned at an early age. Yet the prospects of a great nation destined to prevail over the entire world, the hopes of all of mankind, are to rest on this late-born, orphaned youth! if we consider only the natural course of things, this expectation seems totally absurd -like mountains hanging by hair!

Indeed, it was a great absurdity, and even Avraham- who, by throwing himself down on his face, had already expressed his confidence- could not help but laugh. Great significance is attached to this laughter. It is repeated below, in connection with Sarah, and will be evoked for all time by the name of the promised child.

The beginning of the Jewish people was absurd. To the rational mind, which calculates only on the basis of cause and effect, this people's history, expectations, hopes and life appear as a monstrous, ludicrous, pretension. Jewish History begins to make sense- indeed, deserves to be studied with utmost seriousness-only if one evaluates it on the basis of the higher causality of the Cause of all causes; if one believes in the free, omnipotent Will of the free God, Who acts freely and intervenes powerfully in the affairs of God's world.

It was imperative that our ancestors know this from the beginning, and that their descendants always remember this. That is why God waited until the nation's patriarch and matriarch reached an absurd age; that is why God began to fulfill God's promises only after all human hope was lost. God wished to create a nation that would be אצבע אלהים- a"finger" of G-d. An indication of God in the midst of man kind. From the beginning to the end of its existence, this nation would stand opposed to all the forces operating in world history. Until this very day, the Jewish people is considered an utter absurdity in the eyes of God denying fools. The laughter that follows the Jew on their way through history testifies to the Divine character of their path. The laughter does not disturb them, because they were prepared for this laughter in advance.
[Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth in the United Kingdom. Covenant & Conversation is a 21st-century five-volume collection of his essays on the weekly Torah portion.]

שיג ושיח; קריאות חדשות בפרשת השבוע, ויקרא, צו, ב י״ד-ט״ו

...

Covenant and Conversation; Leviticus; The Book of Holiness, Tzav, Giving Thanks 14-15

In his book A Rumor of Angels, the American sociologist Peter Berger describes what he calls “signals of transcendence” – phenomena within the human situation that point to something beyond. Among them he includes humour and hope. There is nothing in nature that explains our ability to reframe painful situations in such a way that we can laugh at them, nor is there anything that can explain the human capacity to find meaning even in the depths of suffering.

[Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik is the senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, and the director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University.]
from May You Be Inscribed for a Good Laugh by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik in Commentary Magazine, September 2017

Jewish laughter is bound up with Jewish faith, and Abraham’s child is named for laughter because his birth inverted expectations, vindicated Abraham’s faith, and laid the foundations of a people who would confound those expectations again and again, thereby vindicating this faith throughout the generations. Which is why, for centuries, on the first day of the Days of Awe, Abraham’s children have gathered in synagogues all around the world, remembered the birth of Isaac, and beseeched Almighty God to grant them a year of life, love—and laughter.

Liz Levin

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