Shalom and thank you for your question! Yes it is definitely true that humor has a big place in Jewish belief and practice. Probably much more than many people realize.
On a cultural level, through the ages and the sufferings of the wandering Jews, humor was an important coping mechanism, from the famous line in the play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ which says “G-d would like us to be joyful even when our hearts lie panting on the floor, ” to the official position of the ‘badchan’, someone who would officiate as a comedian at weddings. It was a way of institutionalizing joy to cope with the travails of exile and antisemitism.
In our actual belief system there are many categories of joy with mystical meanings. Joy is definitely one of the most potent ways of serving G-d. The Torah teaches ‘Serve G-d with joy…’. (Psalm 100,)
And in Deuteronomy we are told of negative consequences for not worshipping G-d out of joy and gladness of heart when we were the benefactors of his blessings.
Humor is an important tool for overcoming doldrums and morphing ourselves into a happier frame of mind.
The first word of Psalms is ‘Ashrei’ , happy is he who goes not on the path of the unrighteous…’,
There are many expressions for joy in the Torah, and they reflect different aspects of our service of G-d.
There is a quiet joy within ourselves where we consistently try to carry out the commandments sincerely, there is joy that we cause others and share with others…
There is joy in ascending higher and higher levels of learning and understanding. This is a very desirable type of joy.
As we said above, humor is a tool for achieving joy.
Sarah laughed when the angels informed her that she would give birth to Isaac. In fact Isaac in Hebrew is ‘Yitzchak ‘. He will laugh…
When? In Messianic times after the harsh exile. A person named Yitzchak has somewhere within him a special capacity for this Messianic joy. (Every male or female named for a Biblical character possesses a small spark of that character’s attribute.)
Why did Sarah laugh? We laugh when confonted with some sort of novelty. The idea of a woman her age, well past menopause, (whose husband was a centegenarian,) giving birth, was a novelty, so she laughed.
The Jewish calendar of Sabbath and holidays is a varied one. There are periods with few holidays, and periods with many.
We are required to adjust to different periods, making the most of each type of service of G-d.
While certain holidays are called ‘the time of our joy’, there is for example the period of mourning for the destruction of the Temple, (which brought in its train all subsequent national tragedies,). What do we do then? Interestingly, the Sages of the Talmud say ‘When the month of Av enters, we decrease (certain activities of) joy.’
Chassidic teaching is to understand the statement the following way:
When the month of Av enters, and we must not celebrate weddings and other such restrictions until after the 9th Av, when the Temple was destroyed, we must accept this temporary situation in a manner of joy, being glad to fulfill the injunctions of mourning in order to merit the rebuilding of the Temple.
Yes there must be balance.
But back to your question, how do we do this?
The Hebrew word for belief is Emunah, which shares a root with the word for practice, ‘imun’. We actually have to remind ourselves to keep positive. We must practice, it doesn’t come by default.
Again, remember the tool of novelty.
It truly is a way of fulfilling G-d’s commandments when we arm ourselves with a positive attitude and humor! To do that we have to find the balance between routine and novelty. If we feel in a rut and nothing is working, we need to find some healthy constructive form of novelty.
Could be a gift to your grandmother, a visit if possible, taking a child out to the zoo, or taking them to a fun indoor activity… The sky is the limit!!
So, as a Chassidic singer suggests, “It is a big Mitzvah to be joyous…give a smile…
Be the reason someone smiles!!”
