Ideal, real and the distance between

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For those unfamiliar with adjunct professor Jack
Spiro’s lectures, the title of this year’s 23rd annual
Brown-Lyons Lecture might have been an indication of
the key speaker’s sense of humor.

For those unfamiliar with adjunct professor Jack
Spiro’s lectures, the title of this year’s 23rd annual
Brown-Lyons Lecture might have been an indication of
the key speaker’s sense of humor.

Spiro presented “Jewish Humor – It’s No Joke” this
past Thursday night at the W.E. Singleton Center for the
Performing Arts. During the lecture, Spiro gave various
insights about the humor interwoven throughout Jewish
history.

“On the Jewish calendar, the year is 5768-not 2008,”
Spiro said. “The Chinese year is 4705 . Jews went for
over 1,000 years without Chinese food.”

Those years were the Dark Ages, he said.

Although Jews constitute 2.5 percent of the American
population, Spiro said, 70 percent of all American
comedians are Jewish.

“The humor of irony is our paradigm,” Spiro said.

An example of this paradigm is evident in the “Book
of Esther” set in Persia, Spiro said. Spiro then relayed
the history behind the annual Jewish holiday of Purim.
The holiday – which began Thursday night – helped
inspire the theme of his lecture, Spiro said.

Spiro told the story of the protagonist, Mordecai, and
the antagonist, Haman-who had been given the highest
position of nobility by King Xerxes of Persia.

“(Haman was) so mad he was to commit the first
genocide in history.”

When Mordecai heard of Haman issuing an edict to
annihilate the Jews-before Mordecai knew about the
happy ending to occur, he cried for justice, Spiro said.
This was a message “cramming justice into the dark
shadows of injustice.”

After discussing Purim, Spiro gave several examples
of Jewish comedians from throughout the ages. He
touched on the work of Yiddish writer Shalom Aleichem,
“Tevye and His Daughters,” which
was transformed by lyricist Sheldon
Harnick into the movie “Fiddler on
the Roof.”

“There’s irony in the prayer of
a simple milkman named Tevye,”
Spiro said, quoting a portion of
the protagonist’s plea: ” ‘I know,
I know we are the chosen people.
But once in a while . if it’s not too
much to ask . can’t you choose
someone else?’ “

“God’s covenant with Israel has
always been of the ultimate importance,”
Spiro said. “The covenant
and the Jew are soul mates.”

There is inconsistency in the selfconception
of the Jewish people and
the wretched state of their degraded
existence, Spiro said.

“Were the chosen people really
chosen? If so, why centuries of
suffering?”

Despite the way things have
been, however, there is a deeply
rooted love for one’s Jewish identity,
Spiro said.

“It began 17 chapters from the
beginning (of the Bible) . because
no one was Jewish before Chapter
17.”

Spiro was referring to the story
of Jewish forefathers Abraham and
Isaac, his son, who was born when
Abraham was 100 years old. Spiro
said “Isaac” means “he laughs.”

“The birth of Jewish humor (the
same time as) the birth of the Jewish
people? Why not?” Spiro said.
Irony, however, is not always
grounded in humor.

“We compare the furnaces of
Babylonia that did not consume
Daniel’s friends versus the furnaces
of Auschwitz,” Spiro said. “To discard
the image of Judaism puts irony
into farce.

“To be the chosen people is also
to be the suffering servant . While
the Jewish people have always been
idealistic, irony grounds them in
realism.”

Spiro said Abraham, Tevye and
others each asked God the same
question: ” ‘Will not the judge of
all the Earth work justly?’ “

But even amid persecution, the
humor that is central to Jewish
identity acts as a lifeline, he said.

“We may laugh simply to keep
from crying,” Spiro said.

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