Arts

A Funny Thing Happened
On The Way To Shul

Rabbi explains the history behind the Jew
as jokester, beginning with the parody in Purim.

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks:
"The idea of celebrating
the absurdity of role
switching really
comes from the
observance of
Purim."

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

T

hose who wonder how Purim
turned into a holiday filled with
funny business can find out by
attending a free presentation by a
rabbi, humorist and author.
Moshe Waldoks is religious leader of Temple
Beth Zion in Brookline, Mass., and author of
the soon-to-be released The Gantse (Whole)
Megillah Jewish Humor for Purim and the
Whole Year. He will give his take on the subject
7 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at Adat Shalom
Synagogue, in his presentation, "An Evening of
Jewish Humor."
The rabbi brings a nontraditional perspective
to audiences as an advocate for post-denomina-
tional congregations dedicated to spiritual
seekers from all backgrounds and as a founder
of Jewish-Buddhist dialogues in the United
States. His program is sponsored by Adat
Shalom, Temple Israel, the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit and the Anti-
Defamation League.
"I'll be giving a short history of Jewish

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humor, and I'll be emphasizing the power of
Purim in keeping Jewish humor alive in the
Jewish tradition," says Waldoks, 51. He was
ordained four years ago after studying with
Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, a pioneer in
the Jewish Renewal movement, and Jewish
thinkers- Arthur Green and Everett Gendler.
"We have an attitude that because Jews have
been active in show business for the past 100
years that we've always been this way, but it's
not the case. The rabbinic tradition did not
look with great favor on the theatrical tradition
that we all know from the Greco-Roman
world. They saw the theatrical world as one of
idolatry and lewdness."
Waldoks, also co-editor of The Big Book of
Jewish Humor with William Novak, will
explain that the Book of Esther was the only
official parody book actually put into the
Bible, and how that led to the celebration of
Purim as [a holiday] that turns traditional val-
ues "on their heads."
He will discuss the way the people of the
time saw the story as a way of making fun of
what was going on in the non-Jewish royal
court, and he will delve into examples of mod-
ern parodies.
"The idea of celebrating the absurdity of role
switching really comes from the observance of
Purim," says Waldoks, who also will explore
the tradition of wedding jesters and the dispro-
portionate number of Jews in the humor
industry.
The Book of Esther is the only book in the
entire Bible that does not take place in the
Land of Israel," he says. "It takes place in Persia
and is the only book in the Bible that does not
have God's name explicitly."
Waldoks got involved in theatrical presenta-
tions as a high school and college student in
New York. After moving to Israel in 1970, he
performed in a cabaret show in Tel Aviv, using
English to attract American tourists to the
club.
Also a student at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, Waldoks decided that he wanted to
emphasize- Jewish academia in his life. He
returned to the United States, got his doctoral
degree in Eastern European Jewish intellectual

