The Origins and Characteristics of Jewish Humor

Jewish humor has been studied since the end of the 19th century from many

aspects, including sociological, cultural, psychological, linguistics, and

historical. This article focuses on the important bibliographic sources that

examine Jewish humor in all its variety, including the Bible, the Talmud,

Midrash, literature, jokes, caricatures, cinema, and theater, in an attempt to

answer the main questions regarding Jewish humor: Is there a distinctive

Jewish humor? How can one define Jewish humor? What are the origins of the

modern Jewish humor? Where was modern Jewish humor created? What are

the reasons for the formation of Jewish humor? When was Jewish humor

defined as a cultural concept? Different and sometimes opposite answers were given to the questions mentioned above. This study focuses on three main geographical locations: East Europe, United States and Israel, where the Jewish humor has developed, flourished and influenced not only the Jewish culture in general, but also the culture of the hosting nations where Jews used to live.