ABSTRACT
Jewish humor has a social dimension to it, and also often reflects the moralism and stress on justice that are so much part of Jewish thought and culture. There are a number of problems involved in writing about Jewish fools. It's difficult to say what a Jew is. Jewish fools, by being Jewish and thus experiencing, to varying degrees, marginality, powerlessness, and persecution, are different from non-Je wish fools and from other Jewish comic characters, though the difference between fools, per se, and other Jewish droll characters is sometimes hard to explain. Jewish comic types suggests that there are a number of different kinds of Jewish fools or aspects to Jewish foolishness, which need to be differentiated from one another. From a sociological perspective, Jewish fools keep Jews alert and also focus attention on social justice and other matters of a similar nature that impact on Jewish life.
