Divine Sense Of Humor

Does Hashem have a sense of humor? Is the human ability to have a sense of humor, something we learn from the attributes of G-d (merciful, war-like, etc.), or is humor something exclusive to the human species that has nothing to do with Hashem or His attributes, like the ability to breathe or eat?

The answer is that Hashem does not have a sense of humor, nor any other sense for that matter. G-d created sense as He created everything. All references to G-d being angry or any other emotional feeling, are purely allegorical, to allow us to better understand the essence of G-d with our limited, finite human intellect. G-d is infinite, without physical form or emotions and beyond our human understanding.

A sense of humor is the human ability to find something funny, something we see, hear, feel, that causes us to smile and laugh.

The first reference we have to laughing in the Torah is in this week’s parsha (Bereishit 16:17) when Hashem tells Avraham that Sarah is going to have a son at age 90. Avraham “falls on his face” and laughs. Hashem responds, “But your wife Sarah will have a son and you will call him Yitzchak.”

In the next parsha, Vayeira, the three angels come to visit Avraham after his brit and tell him again that Sarah is going to have a son. Sarah, who is in the tent, hears this and “laughs inside herself” saying “the way of women is no longer upon me and my lord (Avraham) is old” (Bereishit 18:12-15).

Hashem reprimands Sarah for laughing “What, Sarah does not believe?” Sarah denies it saying, “I was not laughing, I was afraid.” Hashem says “No – you laughed!”

Why does Hashem reprimand Sarah for laughing and not Avraham who also laughed before (Bereishit 16:17)?

True to Hashem’s word, Sarah gives birth to a son and Avraham calls him Yitzchak, literally meaning – he will laugh!

We are not yet done with the laughs. Sarah says (Bereishit 21:6) “Hashem has made ‘fun’ of me, anyone who hears (that I gave birth at 90) will laugh at me.”

A few pasukim later we are told of Yishmael, son of Hagar, who Sarah caught laughing (Bereishit 21:9) and she tells Avraham to banish Hagar and Yishmael as a result. It’s OK for Avraham and Sarah to laugh, but it’s not OK for Yishmael to laugh?

Following this in the entire Torah, we have only two more references to laughing (Potiphar’s wife accusing Yosef and the egel). The majority of references to laughter surround the story of Yitzchak.

Of the three Avot, Yitzchak is the only one who did not have his named changed by Hashem. Avraham starts off as Avram until Hashem changes it. Yaakov’s name is changed to Yisrael. Yitzchak’s name is preordained by Hashem and not changed during his lifetime.

Out of the three Avot, Yitzchak seems the least likely to be associated with laughter. All three Avot suffered trauma in their lives. Avraham was thrown into the furnace by Nimrod and saved by a miracle. Yaakov was swindled repeatedly by Lavan and he lived in constant fear of his vengeful brother Eisav. Yitzchak’s trauma was perhaps greater than that of his father or his son – he was tied on the altar in the akeidah. Avraham’s and Yaakov’s trauma were caused by their enemies, it was expected that they would cause them trauma. Yitzchak’s trauma was caused by his own father!

True, we read in the akeidah that they were of the same mind in their service of Hashem and Yitzchak willingly complied. But still, to have your own father, who you know loves you dearly and who you love dearly in return, tie you down on the altar and raise a knife to kill you – that has to be the most traumatic emotional experience any son has to endure, however spiritually noble it may have been.

Despite this – it is Yitzchak, the most traumatized out of the three Avot, who is associated with laughing.

As any comedian will tell you, there are different types of humor. There is slapstick humor, where people do silly things that provoke laughter, like Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy where they fall over, bump their heads, etc. Another kind of humor is to make fun of someone else or something. Think of Irish jokes, Polish jokes, “a rabbi, a priest and an imam walk into a bar” type jokes. Most of standup comedy is this type of humor.

The latter kind of humor, the “making fun” kind is problematic according to the Torah. Sometimes it borders on and sometimes is outright “malbin pnei chaveiro,” shaming someone in public, which is equivalent to murder! Perhaps the only time such humor could be acceptable is if the person is making fun of himself and not others, but even then, it is not completely clear if that is OK or not.

The former kind of humor that simply makes one laugh, without denigrating anyone or anything is OK and more than that, it is encouraged.

When Avraham laughed after hearing about having Yitzchak, it was the acceptable kind of laugh, a laugh of pure joy, a smile that lit up Avraham’s face. “Vayipol al panav vayitzchak.”

When Sarah laughed, it was a “laugh inside herself,” Vatizchak Sarah bekirba! That is not a laugh of pure joy, that is a mocking, “making fun,” disbelieving kind of laugh and for that Hashem reprimanded her. Later Sarah admits her mistake when she says “Hashem has made ‘fun’ of me, anyone who hears will laugh at me.” Midah kenegged midah – I was mocking, so now people will make fun of me.

Yishmael’s laughter was also a mocking, denigrating laughter, ridiculing Yitzchak for respecting the ways of his father Avraham. That prompted Sarah, who had learned the severity of such kind of laughter, to demand that Avraham banish Hagar and Yishmael, because such laughter is destructive.

Humor, laughter and smiling are one of the most important defense mechanisms that the human species possesses. They enable us to see things in perspective and not to allow reality to overwhelm us.

If Yitzchak had not been named Yitzchak, if he had not been ordained from birth by Hashem with the gift of laughter, his childhood trauma may very well have overwhelmed him and overshadowed his life. Yitzchak managed to cope, using laughter. That was Hashem’s blessing to him by giving him that name, from birth.

Humor may not be Divine, Hashem may not have a sense of humor (or maybe He does, who knows), but one thing is for sure, he gave us humans the special gift of humor, the gift of laughter – to protect us and allow us to cope in this tough physical world. We must make sure we use it correctly and not destructively, that our laughter should uplift the spirit and not trample on it.

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What is Amrafel’s other name?

Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What type of rain fell in the flood? The first seven days it was only light rain (some say mixed with snow). After the first week it was rain heated in the furnaces of hell. It rained boiling water and everything on the face of the earth got cooked until a depth of three tefachim. Only the water surrounding the ark remained cool and the water close to the seabed, where the fish swam to and were saved.