Rav Berokah Would Agree

I was in the YU library and bumped into (actually he snuck up on me) a dear childhood friend. At the moment that he came over I was asking the librarian for the Yated Ne'men from two week's ago. I wanted to photo-copy the beautiful tribute to my father's (HSLABW) cousin, Rabbi Baruch Borchardt (Lehibadel Min HaChayim UMin HaMeitim)(ZT"L).

As my friend and I did some catching up, I photocopied my article of interest and discovered another one - tribute to Rav Henoch Leibowitz (pictured on the left) (ZT"L). (In conversation, my old friend expressed blog related curiousity, asking questions like, "How do you post?" and "How do you put pictures in?" So I showed him how it works (memo to self: a blogger museum). As an example I googled and pasted a photo of my friend's late Rosh Yeshiva.

The Yated Neeman piece bon Rav Leibowitz, by Rabbi Dovid Max, includes a section on humor, of special interest to me. It states: "The Rosh Yeshiva stressed the importance of a healthy sense of humor. In earlier generations, when people were stronger, some gedolim emphasized the need to be very serious; one well known example was Rav Elchonon Wasserman (H"YD/ZT"L). But this approach is not healthy for the weaker generation we live in; we are in danger of buckling under pressure if we are too serious. The Rosh yeshiva would often laugh and joke with his talmidim. Sometimes, during the back and forth in the blatt shiur, he would make a show of looking up desperately at the clock. If it was time to end the shiur, he would say, "Saved by the bell!" Of course it wouldn't work: the talmidim would continue to pepper him with questions all the way to the car.) Nevertheless no-one ever felt that the Rosh Yeshiva's dignity was compromised by his warmth and openness. He was approachable to everyone, yet projected a spiritual greatness that inspired reverence and even awe."

My friend's attention was caught by that paragraph and he recalled fondly the first time that he had a long private talk with Rav Leibowitz in the Rosh Yeshiva's home. For about half an hour before talking about anything else the Rav told his talmid one joke after another. And they laughed. My friend understood that the Rosh Yeshiva was trying to reach him where he was at, knowing that he was a funny guy due to his involvement in the Yeshgiva Purim shpiels.

After about twenty minutes the Rebetzin - who was ever protective of the great rabbi - heard the laughter and came in and asked, "Oh, is X telling you jokes?" And it was quickly made clear to her that this time it was the other way around.

I speak professionally on the topic of humor in Judaism, maybe I've blogged about it. Now I have a new piece to add. While this is not a humor outlet for me, I am a big believer in humor.