A Laughing Matter

o I was on YouTube, watching an incendiary video featuring one of the world’s major religions, a video full of horrific lies, reprehensible distortions and inflammatory, provocative dialogue. In case you want to watch, it’s called, “The Zionism Conspiracy.”

What? You thought I was talking about that other incendiary video? The one that’s caused rioting, mayhem and deaths throughout the world during the past week?

No, I was whiling away my time on YouTube, searching for things about “Zionism” and “Jews.” Did you know that when you type in “Jews” on YouTube’s Google search, up pops “Jews are evil” and “Jews are not human?” And “Zionist” will lead you to a veritable treasure trove of videos about the Zionist conspiracy, the Protocols and how the Jews were really responsible for 9/11.

And yet, despite the amount of anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish tripe out there, I don’t believe the Jews have ever stormed embassies, caused riots or murdered. Yes, we have our deranged lunatics now and then, but as a people, we stay pretty calm, despite the intense hatred and vitriol that distort everything from our God to our Torah to our homeland.

So what stops us from rioting and storming and mayhem-causing? There’s certainly enough mockery and degradation of our religion to warrant it. Is it because we don’t believe in our religion as strongly? We don’t have the same passion? I don’t think so.

Maybe it’s because we are a peaceful people, or maybe we’re so used to the anti-whatevers that we just accept the latest one and move on.

Maybe. Or maybe it’s because an essential element of our people is a strong, unwavering sense of humor. You can’t possibly make fun of something in our religion we haven’t made fun of already ourselves. It kind of takes the sting off. In fact, we Jews are kind of known for our sense of humor, especially the self-deprecating kind.

Yes, we fight the lies. Yes, we rally against hatred and do our best to untwist the distortions. But the thing is, we don’t let it get to our “kishkes,” as it were, and determine our course of action. We don’t let it inflame and consume us. A sense of humor keeps us steady and able to move forward. We can take your venom and fling it right back. (See:The Onion’s “interview” with Seth Nussbaum on his depression at being left out of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy.)

So although perhaps The People Who Can Laugh at Themselves doesn’t have the same ring as The Chosen People, I think an ability to laugh and a good sense of humor not only make life more enjoyable, but may in fact be essential to our ability to survive and flourish.