The Book of Esther is a comedy... it has all the hallmarks of comedy. Exaggerations, improbable events and actions, ludicrous situations, comic misunderstandings, sexual innuendos, and cartoon characters.
The comic aspects of the book are not incidental, merely to provide comic relief; they are the essence of the book. They define the genre of the book, and thus set the parameters according to which we should read it. We cannot appreciate the story fully unless we realize that it is meant to be funny.
The very fact that Esther is part of the Bible–a holy book with religious authority and religious teachings–forces us to make it fit the expectations we have about what the Bible is and what kinds of writing it contains.
Adele Berlin, Esther as Comedy
(15) “What,” [Ahasuerus asked,] “shall be done, according to law, to Queen Vashti for failing to obey the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs?” (16) Thereupon Memucan declared in the presence of the king and the ministers: “Queen Vashti has committed an offense not only against Your Majesty but also against all the officials and against all the peoples in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. (17) For the queen’s behavior will make all wives despise their husbands, as they reflect that King Ahasuerus himself ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come. (18) This very day the ladies of Persia and Media, who have heard of the queen’s behavior, will cite it to all Your Majesty’s officials, and there will be no end of scorn and provocation! (19) “If it please Your Majesty, let a royal edict be issued by you, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media, so that it cannot be abrogated, that Vashti shall never enter the presence of King Ahasuerus. And let Your Majesty bestow her royal state upon another who is more worthy than she. (20) Then will the judgment executed by Your Majesty resound throughout your realm, vast though it is; and all wives will treat their husbands with respect, high and low alike.” (21) The proposal was approved by the king and the ministers, and the king did as Memucan proposed.
(12) When each girl’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve months’ treatment prescribed for women (for that was the period spent on beautifying them: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics, (13) and it was after that that the girl would go to the king), whatever she asked for would be given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
(6) Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for a man whom the king desires to honor?” Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?” (7) So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, (8) let royal garb which the king has worn be brought, and a horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been set; (9) and let the attire and the horse be put in the charge of one of the king’s noble courtiers. And let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor!” (10) “Quick, then!” said the king to Haman. “Get the garb and the horse, as you have said, and do this to Mordecai the Jew, who sits in the king’s gate. Omit nothing of all you have proposed.”
Pew Research Center
Some artists argue that making light of prejudice, or turning purveyors of it into absurdities, robs hatred of power....A resilient comic sensibility that finds joy in dark places is one of the greatest Jewish legacies — as is an ability to laugh at ourselves.
On her podcast, Sarah Silverman has spoken passionately about how Jewish characters are regularly played by gentile actors, specifically lamenting the lack of meaty roles for women. “The pattern in film is just undeniable,” she said, “and the pattern is — if the Jewish woman character is courageous or deserves love, she is never played by a Jew.”
When a gentile plays a Jew, the results are often more affected, the mannerisms pronounced, which can often mean the difference between someone playing Jewish vs. inhabiting a Jewish character.
Behind the discussion of gentiles in Jewish roles is the long history of Hollywood anxiety that a work will be “too Jewish,” words that have haunted Jewish artists for generations. [In 1989,] a Jewish NBC executive dismissed the pilot for “Seinfeld” as “too New York, too Jewish,” and while it was picked up, the network ordered only four episodes.
Of course, one reason some Jews don’t make a bigger fuss about discrimination, one reason they feel comfortable laughing at it, is that they — we — feel safe. It’s easier to laugh at antisemitism when it happens in an unthreatening place. The feeling is: There are worse problems in the world.
In her acclaimed book “People Love Dead Jews,” ...[Dara Horn's] bracing argument is that there is a cost to denial, that the rise of antisemitic incidents and hate crimes against Jews — including the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh — is directly tied to the fading of the stigma of bigotry against Jews.
Excerpts from Justin Zinoman, Is It Funny for the Jews? New York Times, Feb. 17, 2022.
Jewish humor is not something that can be used just only as a defense mechanism against anti-Semitism; it can be used to teach Jewish tradition as well.
This is an opportunity that we can take with us today when we think about how to engage contemporary Jews.
Why can't we be using Jewish humor more to engage people, and to further Jewish literacy? Why can't we engage people via Jewish humor from the Bible and Talmud and contemporary culture?
Jewish humor can be one tool in the toolbox to engage Jews, to increase Jewish literacy, and to enhance Jewish identity.... It's a way to bring people in."
Excerpts from Rabbi Daniel M. Bronstein, Taking Jewish Humor Seriously (Ted Talk)
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What is the message of this Talmudic passage? Why do you think it is included in the primary source of Jewish law and theology?
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Do you think non-Jewish actors playing Jewish roles (specifically comedic roles) is acceptable? Is it comedy at our expense?
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How might you use (or have you used) humor as a tool in your exercise of Jewish leadership?
§ The Gemara relates another story about the righteousness of common people. Rabbi Beroka Ḥoza’a was often found in the market of Bei Lefet, and Elijah the Prophet would often appear to him. [Once,] two brothers came to the marketplace. Elijah said to Rabbi Beroka: These two also have a share in the World-to-Come. Rabbi Beroka went over to the men and said to them: What is your occupation? They said to him: We are jesters, and we cheer up the depressed. Alternatively, when we see two people who have a quarrel between them, we strive to make peace. It is said that for this behavior one enjoys the profits of his actions in this world, and yet his reward is not diminished in the World-to-Come.
-Erma Bombeck
Humor is just another defense against the universe.
-Mel Brooks
Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.
-Mark Twain