Job 34, for example, reveals some of the lamentation embedded in Jewish humor: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Sarcasm is a prevailing tone in Biblical literature. In Exodus 14:11: "Was there a lack of graves in Egypt, that you took us away to die in the wilderness?" Sarcasm has made its way firmly into modern Jewish humor. More lighthearted types of Jewish humor can also be located in Biblical texts. Puns, for instance, are inherently lighthearted. Giving rise to "groaner" jokes in a modern context, the Bible's puns are cute when considered in context. The Book of Proverbs also contains lighthearted humor, sometimes in the form of slapstick or hyperbolic descriptions. In Proverbs 11:22, for example: As a gold ring in a swine's snout, so is a beautiful woman from whom sense has departed." Similarly, situational comedy occurs on several occasions in the Bible. "One cannot help but laugh when picturing the account of the prophet Elijah's meeting with the false prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27," ("Humor and Laughter in the Bible").

As Ziv points out in Jewish Humor, the three levels of modern Jewish humor including intellectual, emotional, and social, can all be traced to the Bible. Jewish culture was first forged in Biblical times, so it would only make sense that the means of interpreting the world...

Humor remains a means of coping: with personal inadequacy, social stigma, or social pressures. Whether expressed in the form of pun, sarcasm, hyperbole, or slapstick, humor is a key component of Jewish culture.
Works Cited

Cohen, Sarah Blacher. Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor. Wayne State University Press, 1990.

Friedman, Hershey H. "Humor in the Hebrew Bible." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, Vol. 13:3, Sept. 2000, 258-285. Retrieved online: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm

"Humor and Laughter in the Bible." Retrieved online: http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/humor.htm

Jews for Jesus. "Jewish Humor…In the Bible?" Issues: A Messianic Jewish Perspective. 1 April 2005. Retrieved online: http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/15_10/biblehumor

Ziv, Avner. Jewish Humor.

Ziv, Avner. Semites and Stereotypes. Greenwood, 1993.