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Cantor's Corner

A wise man of Chelm was speaking with his wife.

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“If I were Rothschild, I’d be richer than he.”

“How can that be?” asked the wife. “You would both have the same amount of money.”

“True,”he agreed, “but I’d do a little teaching on the side.”

Jewish humor has a long and colorful history. It illustrates an important side to our concerns and challenges and, in ways, is part and parcel of our psyche. In a way, Jewish humor is looked at as a tool of survival.

Even in the Bible there are examples of humor. Sarah laughed when she was told by the angels that she would give birth, and the name of her son Isaac means he will laugh.

The story of Purim is historically associated with humor. The staging of plays based on the book of Esther, called Purimspiels , originated in the 15th century. Replete with parodies, jests, and disdain for figures of authority, Yiddish theater grew out of the tradition of the Purimspiel.

In literature, Jewish humor has many shining examples. There is possibly no better example than the collection of stories that are known as the Wise Men of Chelm. There actually is a town called Chelm in Poland, some 10 miles from the border of Ukraine. A Jewish population has existed there since medieval times. It is not known why these stories are associated particularly with the town of Chelm. In this literature, Chelm functions as an imaginary city of fools. The stories are many and comical and feature a wonderful array of colorful characters!

These stories became a unique and popular idiom in Eastern European Jewish folklore. A number of great Yiddish writers, among them Y.L. Peretz and Isaac Bashevis Singer, took these folkloric themes as a source for their humorous stories. Even Sholem Aleichem was influenced by these stories to construct his own shtetls with their interesting and comical inhabitants.

On December 4, Beth El Temple will present a concert that features a work of mine entitled the Wisdom of Chelm, featuring the master storyteller Matthew Dicks, along with a Klezmer Concerto and the great Violin Concerto (The Turkish) of W.A. Mozart. I hope to see you all there. Let's listen and enjoy!

~ Cantor Joseph Ness

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