ABSTRACT
Satire, used to humorously point out an individual's vice or folly, may make use of wit, sarcasm, irony. The main distinguishing feature of satire is that it has a goal: reform of an individual or, more likely, of society. When an outcome is the opposite of what one expects, when there is a discrepancy between appearances and reality, when there exists an incongruity between what an individual expects to happen and what really does happen, the result is irony. It stands to reason, then, that documents, whose primary goal is commentary on other works, will point up such incongruities where they appear. The rabbis of the Talmud were not only sarcastic when dealing with heretics and nonbelievers—and each other—but they could also mock themselves. Rabbi Chaninah's donkey was once stolen and refused to eat from the fodder provided by the robbers. The donkey of Rabbi Pinchas b. Yair would not eat untithed produce.
