Anthony Gottlieb has written an NYT article about Jewish humor.
The association between Jews and joking has become so powerful that Jewish humor is now all too easy to detect even where it doesn’t really exist. This phenomenon should perhaps be named the Mrs. Morgenbesser Effect. Once, when asked how she was faring, the mother of Sidney Morgenbesser, a New York philosopher, is reported to have replied, “Not so good — thank God.” At first, this sounds like glumness mocking itself. But once you know that religious Jews of a certain vintage are apt to thank God more or less as a matter of punctuation, it is not so clear any sort of humor was intended.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/books/review/no-joke-by-ruth-r-wisse.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I have been reading an excellent book titled In Forest Fields by Rabbi Shalom Arush. The following is an excerpt from pg. 178.
The Holy Baal Shem TOv elaborated on King David's expression (Psalms 16:8), "I have set Hashem before me Always." How can one know that he has truly set Hashem before him? How can he know that he truly lives with emuna that there is "no one but Him?" The word in Hebrew shiviti - "I have set", can also be translated in conjunction with the root word shivyon, or equality, namely, that all is equal before him.
... When a person prays, the 'yes' and 'no' must stand equal before him to avoid despair and to continue to pray for the things he yearns for. He must seek the level of self composure until the 'yes' and 'no' is truly equal before him in all matters. He must contemplate that only Hashem knows what is best for him and therefore subjugate all his desires to Hashem. He should strive to be able to say to himself, "Everything is equal to me, whether I receive that which I ask for - in spiritual as well as material requests - or not.
a wonderful lesson and so timely. when i think back i realise when i dont feel well, i say thank you to the person for asking, but not to G-d . Who gave the illness as a wake up call, or for atonement of some misdeed, which is all very good for me. G-d gives small warnings, and we dont pay attention, so each time the warning becomes bigger and when it s really big like an illness or something like that, the picture is clear that its a wake up call. thanks. this lesson is priceless.
ReplyDeletehahaha,
ReplyDeletea truth and Cooool answer !!
this is also my answer if "many things goes wrong "
sometimes my brothers ask me : " How are you ? "
Thank god, i am not good and i feel bad.
Because if i would say: " yes everything is ok " i will be a liar.
This is also written in one of the books of god:
“ For you say, I have wealth, and have got together goods and land, and have need of nothing;
and you are not conscious of your sad and unhappy condition,
that you are poor and blind and without clothing “