Her­shey and Lin­da Fried­man have achieved some­thing spe­cial with God Laughed: Sources of Jew­ish Humor.This text con­tains not only a thor­ough analy­sis of humor from the Torah, Tal­mud, and Midrash, but also a dis­course on pow­er­ful rela­tion­ships that have been built through laugh­ter and hyper­bole. The Fried­mans bring to light a source of joy and edu­ca­tion that spans count­less life­times, from the Gar­den of Eden to the reader’s con­tem­po­rary greenhouse. 

This book’s unique and humor­ous per­spec­tive on Judaism’s sacred texts will both enlight­en and enter­tain. When I look back on my expe­ri­ence of read­ing the Torah before read­ing God Laughed, I real­ize that I missed many absur­di­ties and sar­don­ic remarks embed­ded in the text.

It’s the orig­i­nal­i­ty and unique­ness of God Laughed that will draw the reader’s inter­est; Jews and non-Jews alike will find this book relat­able. The les­son of humor that the read­er dis­cov­ers with­in the Torah’s walls can enable the dis­tinct feel­ing of togeth­er­ness — of bring­ing peo­ple of dis­parate back­grounds to one spot so that they can laugh and enjoy life’s mys­ter­ies as a unit­ed group. This book is not about the Jew­ish people’s oth­er­ness, but of how they found a way into dif­fer­ent com­mu­ni­ties, a way of mak­ing friends against all odds.

Why not dive into a world where Sarah, Rachel, and Isaac can explain their opin­ions of HaShem in para­bles? Be enchant­ed with all of the Fried­mans’ findings.

Relat­ed Content:

• Inter­nal Dia­logue: Spic­ing Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture with Jew­ish Humor and Jew­ish Life
• Judith Claire Mitchell: Bagels and Groucho
• Be Hap­py, It’s Adar! Read­ing List