Reading from Two Jews on a Train pp. 38-42 (adapted)

         Introduction: When Adam Biro's children are unhappy, he cheers them up with stories his Hungarian father used to tell him. The stories always begin with, "Two Jews are sitting on a train…" This is from Biro's book:

         Two Jews are sitting on a train in a railway carriage in the old country. One is an older man, a rabbi, who is reading from a well-worn prayer book. Occasionally, he looks at a big gold watch attached by a gold chain in his vest pocket. The other man is much younger and wearing threadbare clothes. After some time, the young man asks, "Excuse me, could you tell me what time it is?"

         The older man does not reply.

         "Excuse me, again, but could you please tell me what time it is?" The older man looks out the window. Then looks at the younger man and says, "No!"

         The younger man is quite irritated by this: "Look here, I asked you a perfectly civil question. Why don't you tell me the time?"

         The older man says, "If I tell you what time it is, we will start a conversation. You will find out things about me. You will find out that I am a rabbi in the town of X, that I have a beautiful, unmarried daughter. You will come to visit us. You will fall in love with my daughter. You will marry her…"

         "Well, would this be so terrible? I am a perfectly respectable Jewish man."

         "Perhaps," says the older man. "But I don't want a son-in-law who cannot afford a watch!"

         These were the kinds of stories and jokes Jews told one another throughout all the years of persecution and oppression and holocaust! It was a way of keeping faith and hope alive.

Sermon

         Last year, Leo made a small garden with a pond in our back yard. I wanted to make it into a Peace Garden and for this I felt I needed to add a statue of the Buddha. When I went to Howland's Nursery, I noticed they had some statuary so I asked Jane whether she had a Buddha. She said that she thought they did and asked her husband to bring it. He smiled and soon returned with a laughing man Buddha. He was short, Chinese, big bellied, with raised arms, and he had a joyful smile on his face. I said, "Oh, thank you but I wanted the Indian one that looks as thought it is meditating." Jane said I should go to a large statuary shop in Swansea.

         I found the meditating Buddha and our little peace garden is everything I wanted it to be, especially now that the greenery and flowers are beginning to bloom. But now, I think I would like to add the laughing Buddha on the other side of the pond. "Why?" you may ask. And I may answer, "Because the pot-bellied Buddha represents the mirthful side of life!"

         Mirth is an interesting word. The dictionary says that mirth is gladness and gaiety. (American Heritage, 2001) Experts tell us that humor has several aspects in our lives. The most common one is when the people around us do or say something unexpected.

         I recall that when my then two-year old and fiercely independent son wanted to put on is own pants, he kept putting both legs in one hole and couldn't figure out why he couldn't walk. He took off his pants, turned them around and put them on again, ending up again with two legs in one hole. I was amazed at his patience for taking off and putting on the pants over and over. It was really hard not to laugh! Laughing at him would have put an end to his sincere efforts. Derisive laughter can be harmful to children's emotional growth.

         I wonder if you grew up with an ambivalent attitude towards laughter. For example, did you laugh in church? (Dear Reader, half of the congregation raised their hands!) If you grew up Unitarian Universalist, you did laugh in church. The title of our official joke book is The Church Where People Laugh. The title comes from a parent who told us that when they were shopping around for a church, their little daughter said she wanted to go back to the church where people ate donuts and laughed!

         In the church of my youth, there was no laughter. If an altar boy tripped on his surplus, we would try our best to stifle a laugh. Students of laughter tell us that this attitude comes to us from the ancient Greek philosophers. Interestingly, they believed that laughter was a gift from the Gods, who laughed derisively at one another and at humans. But Greek philosophers held human beings to higher standards.

         Plato cautioned that we should laugh only in moderation or we shall appear undignified. Greek orators cautioned about losing the respect of the people if leaders laughed too much or too loudly. Making fun of the misfortune of others was definitely not acceptable. Greek politicians feared jesters who might make fun of them and turn them into a laughing stock. The early Christian fathers forbade laughter, no doubt adopting Greek attitudes. Later, Christians tried to control laughter through carnivals, which developed into an art form. There were days of seriousness and official days of laughter. The joy of Easter is a good example of the relief people should experience following a week of reflecting on suffering and tragedy.

         Laughter and humor have always had a dangerous and superstitious side to them. I recall that when we would be beside ourselves with laughing, my mother would say, "We are laughing too much. Tears must not be far away." And then she'd laugh some more. Did you grow up with this attitude?

         The Puritans were a serious folk with a strong Calvinist-you're-going-to-be-damned-anyway attitude. They wanted to live a godly life guided by the Bible, in which we find little laughter. The most famous Biblical laughter is part of the story of Abraham and Sarah. As part of his covenant with Abraham, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation and yet Abraham and Sarah were childless. Emissaries from God tell Abraham that Sarah will have a child. Sarah was listening from her tent and she laughed out loud since she was 90 years old and long past childbearing age. The men ask why Sarah laughed. Sarah denied laughing. However, Sarah does have a child, a son. They name him Isaac, which means "he who laughs". The only other instances of laughter in the Bible are when God laughs at humanity for their suffering. Jewish and Christian biblical scholars find this cruel behavior puzzling. (Sanders, 46)

         For a religion where there is no humor in its scripture, the humor of the Jews is surprising. "No other religious tradition has called its place of worship a schull (a place of study), or made study and scholarship the essential religious vocation. An anecdote tells of a famous rabbi being asked by one of his disciples how God occupies himself in Eternity. 'He studies,' replied the rabbi." (Berger, 92) From their study and struggle with the Talmud and the working and reworking of the ancient Hebrew language of the Bible, a certain humor has evolved, as well as out of their trials and tribulations of life. In the days of the Holocaust and daily tragedy, it was humor that kept Jews going. Here are some from World II:

         Hitler and Goering are standing on the Berlin radio tower. Hitler says he would like to give the Berliners some joy. Goering says, "Then jump off the tower!" (Lipman, 74)

         Another writes a letter to God, "Dear God, for five thousand years, we have been your chosen people. Enough! Choose another one now!" (Lipman, 140)

         A Jewish defendant is on trial where any punishment must be doubled if the offender is a non-Aryan:

         How old are you? Asks the judge.

         "33-years."

         "What year were you born?"

         "1900," replies the defendant.

         "But then you're 39 years old. Why do you say 33?"

         "Do you call the last six years living?" (Lipman, 140)

         The reading this morning was also an illustration of Jewish humor in the face of oppression. I hope you'll get to read more such stories. I could lend you this book.

         Experts tell us that humor in life allows us to break through reality and to gain new insights into the human condition. Gaining such insights is a spiritual process. Sometimes, however, our world does not lend itself to humor. I used to watch Jay Leno regularly on the Tonight Show for a funny perspective on the latest news. Before Sadam Hussein was captured, Jay told very funny jokes about Hussein and our search for him. However, Jay has little comic relief these days for the current tragedy of the Iraq war.

         One theologian (Reinhold Niebuhr) says that there is an intimate relationship between faith and humor and it is because both deal with the incongruous or illogical aspects of our lives. He says, "Both humor and faith are expressions of the freedom of the human spirit, of its capacity to stand outside of life…and view the whole scene." (Berger, 200)

         I believe this to be true. Last Sunday, I was in Washington DC at the March for Women's Lives on the National Mall with 800,000 plus other pro-choice activists. We traveled by bus through the night and arrived there at 5:30 am with busloads of other marchers. Fifty busses alone had come from Southeastern Massachusetts! We decided to go to our famous UU All Souls church for a service. More than 900 UUs from 37 states were gathered. It was an uplifting and moving service. Finally, we joined the marchers. What was immediately striking was the overwhelming number of young women and men. The creativity of this group was astounding. Ahead of us was a huge flying uterus, complete with tubes and ovaries! It was beautifully crafted and painted. Two young women carried it on two poles. As we walked we chanted. The chants of the young people were wonderfully creative and politically critical of our current administration. As we passed anti-choice protestors yelling at us through bullhorns, we simply chanted louder. It was fun! To be truthful, most of the anti-choice protestors were silent and solemn and just held signs and some were on their knees praying. Though the reason for the march was serious, there was much laughter. Just being there was a delight.

         The flying uterus was a marvelously humorous device to illustrate to everyone that in the minds of these young women, it was the ownership of the uterus that was in question. They chanted, "My body, my choice. My body, my choice." There were many other chants and posters that are not suitable pulpit material. But the thrust of them was to warn politicians and religions to get out of what is not their business. This flying uterus was breaking through arguments. It had its own unmistakable logic. A young man held a sign that said, "Pro-choice Republican!" People applauded as he went by.

         One of my professors at Boston University, Peter Berger, wrote a book called Redeeming Laughter. He says that any joke "can be redeeming in the sense of making life easier to bear, at least briefly. . . .when the reality is dense, heavy, compelling." (Berger, 205-206) He says that we can transform our world with laughter when the reality is too intense. Not long ago, you might remember that President Bush joked about weapons of mass destruction by looking under tables and chairs at the Whitehouse. While he could laugh at this, the nation was not amused, especially the families of those young women and men who have died in Iraq! On the contrary, it made the reason for the entire Iraq War, null and void and a blight on our nation's history. How will it all end?!?

         However, our lives are generally made up of a more gentle, mirthful humor, more like the kind when my little son put both legs into one side of his pants. Leo Brautigam, my spouse, told me of how his family laughed when their dog, a kaisehond, mimicked his smile. They found it amazing at first. Leo found the dog would smile on command when he held the dog's head in his hands and smiled; the dog barred his teeth. It became a family entertainment. I'm sure you have many stories of your own like this.

         We shouldn't underestimate the role of humor in our good health as well as good spirits. It is well known that Norman Cousins held at bay a painful, progressive, and terminal illness for twenty years with a steady diet of laughter, especially by watching the Marx brothers movies. Sometimes, we go and rent a funny movie because things in the world are soooo depressing!

         Peter Berger says that laughter is close to a mystical experience because it puts us in an altered psychological space. I think laughter brings us into the present moment. In fact, let us have a present moment, communal mystical experience right now with big belly meditation. We've done this before, but let us remind ourselves of it. [Dear Reader, we did this and laughed and laughed! I learned it years ago from Chung Liang Al Huang, a wonderful Tai Chi teacher. If you want to learn it, come and see me!]

         Someone recently told me that her friend had a poster of on his dormitory wall of Jesus laughing! Did the giver of the Sermon on the Mount laugh? Of course he did! He consorted with ordinary folks. He laughed, like any good Zen teacher would!

         When life gets too intense, laughter can give us a way of getting a new perspective and even a deeper understanding into life. The important thing is not to deny the gravity of a situation but to gain clarity about your own truth in it. Laughter about the situation can help. And if you're too mired in disturbing circumstances, then do treat yourself to a big belly meditation, or come and see me and we'll do it together. Meanwhile, Mother's Day is coming up, so I hope you'll get yourself a laughing Buddha, or tell Leo Brautigam to get one for me! When the problems of life are too much to bear, may you reach a new perspective through humor and laughter.

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Berger, Peter L. Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997.

Biro, Adam. Two Jews on a Train, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Lipman, Steve. Laughter in Hell: The Use of Humor during the Holocaust. (Sorry that I forgot to write down publication information before returning the book!)

Sanders, Barry. Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History, Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.