This Rabbi's A Ham

Will the real Steve
Martin please stand up?
Rabbi-comedian Bob
Alper (right), a Steve
Martin look-alike, has
his own style of humor.

Rabbi-comedian
Bob Alper brings his
gentle Jewish humor
to Congregation
Beth Achim.

LOIS K. SOLOMON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

efore we begin: Treife means "not
kosher." Passover means "no
bread."
The preceding message is de-
signed for the "Judaically chal-
lenged," as Rabbi-comedian Bob
Alper calls his non-Jewish audi-
ence members. With flashcards
he brings to non-Jewish venues,
the rabbi makes sure that gen-
tiles feel comfortable with his rou-
tines about rabbinical life.
And as for Jews, well, here's
a sample of his shtick:
"I always use jokes and funny
stories in sermons in front of my
congregation, which has given me
22 years' experience performing
in front of a hostile audience."
Pa-dum-pum.
After 22 years in the rabbinate,
Bob Alper has found his calling.
He still leads High Holiday and

Lois Solomon writes for the Palm
Beach Jewish Times.

some Shabbat services at a Re-
form congregation in Glenside,
Pa. But almost every weekend
(Friday nights and Jewish holi-
days excluded), he's on the road,
performing in comedy clubs, syn-
agogues, conventions and Jewish
community centers.
He'll be at Congregation Beth
Achim in Southfield at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 11.
"I always was funny as a
rabbi," he said. "Rabbis are
hired guns. We're perpetual out-
siders."
That outsider status allows
Rabbi Alper to observe the
humorous aspects of Jewish life
with some detachment.
You won't hear any obnoxious-
Jewish-mother-in-law jokes, or
JAP jokes, or circumcision
jokes.
"Those are easy targets," said
Rabbi Alper, 50, a father of two
who lives with his wife in East

Dorset, Vt. "I really want to be
very positive. Self-deprecating
humor is not positive."
A native of Providence, R.I., the
rabbi graduated from Lehigh
University in 1966 and was
ordained at Hebrew Union Col-
lege in Cincinnati. He was the
first Jewish recipient of a doctor-
ate at Princeton Theological Sem-
inary.
He served as assistant rabbi at
a congregation in Buffalo for six
years and rabbi of a synagogue
in Philadelphia for eight years be-
fore he entered a Jewish Comic
of the Year contest in Philly and
won third place.
That was the impetus he
needed for leaving the rabbinate
and traveling the nation's comedy
circuit.
"I went out on the open-mike
circuit, when there are 25 people
in the audience, and 22 are just
like you and waiting to get on

stage," he said. "Then I did free
shows; then I started getting
booked."
When most people think of
Jewish comics, they think George
Burns, Jackie Mason, Mel
Brooks. But among the contem-
porary comics, Rabbi Alper, who
many say resembles Steve Mar-
tin, likes Jerry Seinfeld.
Acquaintances often ask the
rabbi why so many Jews have
made careers in comedy. He al-
ways gives what he calls the stan-
dard answer first: Jews used
humor as a response to persecu-
tion and powerlessness.
But Rabbi Alper thinks there's
a more significant reason: Jews
love language.
"The Bible and the Talmud
play with language," he said. "As
a stand-up comic, I truncate lan-
guage. I try to get a laugh with-

THIS RABBI'S A HAM page 79

