Pillow Book of Talmud Wisdom

Chapter 35 A Humorous Word Melts the Ice—Jews on Humor

Jews regard humor as an important spiritual food.In Hebrew, wisdom is called "Hefma", and humor is also called "Hefma", and humor has just become the wisdom of survival and life for the Jewish people.

As the "Talmud" says: a humorous person is a person with wisdom.

the power of humor

"Talmud" said: A humorous person is a person with wisdom.

Although the Jewish people have a painful historical experience, they have always been full of firm belief in life, otherwise their nation could not have survived so much torture.In fact, it was suffering that created the unshakable optimism of the Jewish people.

Joy and laughter are essential medicines in Jewish life, which enable them to always maintain an optimistic attitude towards life.For the Jews, the stress of life was too great for them to dissolve it with tears and endless groans.Neither the persecution nor the misery nor their impoverished lives in the dank "pauper's prison" can stop them from laughing.

However, the laughter of the Jews is not a general idle pleasure, nor is it just a pastime, but a tenacious and rebellious answer to the harsh life.Therefore, there is a unique wisdom in Jewish humor. It is not only a sharp criticism of life, but also a good way to help them relieve pain, effectively regulate and entertain the body and mind.

This pleasant humor, some people call it "Jewish wit".

Many Jewish legends and folktales contain deep tragic humor.Like many Jewish folk songs, their melodies are haunted by lingering melancholy.But this sadness did not degenerate into despair or self-pity.They have always maintained dignity in purification, ennobled suffering in firm belief, and even in defeat, they have won moral victory because of justice. ,

The "humor" in the Jewish character is associated with their optimism and courage to challenge adversity.

The Jews believe that humor is the most powerful force a person can have.It relaxes the mind.

Therefore, whenever an embarrassing situation occurs, the Jews always like to use jokes and humor to enliven the atmosphere and the scene.

While not all humor is successful, some humor can actually make a situation worse.However, the Jews don't think there is anything wrong with this. What they value is their personal mentality, and they don't care about the effect.Therefore, the Jews said: "As long as it is humorous, people can relax, and only a sage can always maintain a relaxed mood under any circumstances."

The Jews believe that only those strong and indomitable people can take a step away from the situation they are in in a crisis, and observe and humor themselves from an objective standpoint.In the eyes of the Jews, humor represents not only the toughness of the strongman, but also the courage of the strongman.

In the eyes of the Jews, humor is a privilege that only the strong can have.So they put a lot of emphasis on humor, because humor is the greatest of all human forces.

The Jews often say: "Laughter is one of the best medicines of all medicines."

Because "laughter" can comfort their hearts in times of pain, and can make happy Jews more energetic.However, the Jews believe that the hidden power of laughter is not limited to this; as long as more attention is paid to laughter, it will become the most powerful weapon among all innate abilities of human beings.

There is no lack of humor in life, and a humorous life is the ultimate in life.Proper use of humor can make you a blockbuster, but if it is used wrongly, it will easily hurt people's feelings, and it will be regarded as a kind of vicious irony, and the consequences will be disastrous.

When John Allen of the United States competed for a very difficult congressional election, he won the final victory with a few humorous words and became famous all over the country.

At that time, the opponent who competed with Ellen was General Tao Ke, who was his equal.The General Tauck had distinguished service in the Civil War and served several terms in Congress.

During the campaign, General Tao Ke said in the conclusion of his speech: "My dear compatriots, I remember that just last night 17 years ago, I led troops to fight the enemy on the mountain after a fierce bloody battle, and slept in the bushes on the mountain for one night. , if you have not forgotten that arduous record, when you are in the preliminaries, please don't forget the person with great record who suffered so much and lived in the open air!"

This kind of speech was the most touching at the time, but when Ellen saw that his opponent was about to succeed, he could use a few light-hearted words to wipe out the effect of his speech, and he was sure of winning.

He said: "My countrymen! General Tao Ke was right. He was famous in that war. But at that time, I was an unknown soldier under him. When I slept peacefully in the bushes, I also carried a weapon and stood upright in the wilderness to protect him from the cold wind and cold dew. You think of the scene at that time. If you sympathize with General Tao Ke, you should of course elect him. On the contrary, if you sympathize with me , I may be well-deserved for your nomination!" With a few words, the audience was overwhelmed, and immediately rushed to nominate them.Soon, he was brought into Congress.

Ellen was law-abiding in Congress and often used humor to resolve difficult issues.Once, he wanted to deliver a speech in Congress, but was rejected by a congressman.So, he immediately put on a mournful face, and said sobbingly: "Although you refuse me to speak, please insert a few cheers for me in the minutes of the meeting. I think this small request will not Was it also rejected by you?" The words made all the councilors burst into laughter.Originally, the reason for Ellen's speech was to revise the minutes of the meeting. The congressman's refusal was based on the law of Congress.But now that he has uttered such eloquent words, there is no need to uphold that law.So, unanimously passed Ellen to deliver that speech.

There will always be some people in your life who affect your life or bring some troubles to your life. If you point out his mistakes in a humorous way, then not only will you not make enemies, but you will also show your tolerant atmosphere and witty mind. It will leave a deep impression on the other party and remind him to pay attention next time.

Wisdom cannot be separated from humor
Contemporary people know how to appreciate and create humor more and more, in order to live a more relaxed and enjoyable life.Humor not only makes people laugh, but also means something.The real humor should be witty and witty, full of wit, making people laugh more and more, and having enlightenment like sudden enlightenment.On the contrary, it is degraded to gag, and that kind of amusement is just like reaching out to someone's armpit.Humor is the natural display of intelligence accumulated to a certain degree, and the natural expression of reaction training to a certain degree, basically without skills at all.If you want to be humorous, you can only enrich yourself and improve yourself in a down-to-earth manner.

Before Roosevelt became the president of the United States, his home was burglarized, and his friends wrote to him to comfort him.Roosevelt wrote back: "Thank you for your letter, I am at peace now because:
First, the thief only stole my property and did not harm my life;

Second, the thief steals some of the things, not all;

Third, the most fortunate thing is: he is the thief, not me. "

Humorous witty response is not just eloquence, but a happy and mature life attitude. Mastering it is equal to mastering the crystallization of wisdom and the source of happiness.

Napoleon, a famous French man, was hunting in the wild one day when he heard someone calling from a distance. He followed the sound and saw a man falling into the water, calling for help.

Napoleon raised his gun without hesitation, and shouted: "Hey! Listen! If you don't climb up, I'll shoot you."

Hearing this, the man immediately forgot the danger of falling into the water, and immediately swam to the shore with all his strength.The first thing he said when he went ashore was: "It's fine if you don't save me, why did you shoot me to death?"

Napoleon replied calmly: "If I hadn't threatened you just now, you wouldn't have swum to the shore, so how could you have escaped danger?"

The first person to translate Humor as "humor" was Lin Yutang, who himself has a great sense of humor.Lin Yutang believes that "a humorous outlook on life is a truthful, tolerant, and sympathetic outlook on life."

Only by learning humor can we be "optimistic about everything and look at life with a smile"; we can "speak out is wisdom, and speaking is the sound of nature".

Humor master Lin Yutang once taught English in a university. On the first day of class, he walked into the classroom with a big leather bag. The students thought it was a textbook. When he opened it, it was full of shelled peanuts. Lin Yutang talked about it in English. The Way of Peanuts.

He said: "To eat peanuts, you have to eat the shells. All the taste and taste are all in the shells. The stronger the shells, the more flavorful the peanuts." He added, "Peanuts are also called longevity fruits. On the first day of class, please eat my longevity fruit and wish you immortality, I will not call names in class in the future, I hope everyone will grow up after eating peanuts, and don’t play truant!" After speaking, the whole class smiled.Since then, every time the master lectures, there are always no empty seats.

The Chinese are a nation that doesn’t pay much attention to humor. From childhood to adulthood, our parents and teachers taught us to be “serious” and “serious”.

On the other hand, Americans can ignore others calling him stubborn, treacherous, and rogue, but they cannot stand the criticism of "having no sense of humor".In American culture, the phrase "has no sense of humor" seems to sit alongside words like failure, unpopular, and obnoxious.

General MacArthur wrote a prayer for his son, in addition to asking God to give his son "to be strong in weakness, to face oneself bravely in fear, to be firm in honest failure, and to be humble in victory." In addition to being gentle, he also prayed to God to give him a "full sense of humor."It can be seen from this that humor is endowed with lofty value and affirmation in Western society.

The Indian poet and writer Tagore received a letter from a girl: "You are a writer I admire. In order to show my admiration for you, I plan to use your name to name my beloved pug." Tagore wrote a reply letter to the girl : "I agree with your plan, but before naming it, you'd better discuss it with Pug to see if it agrees."

The Danish fairy tale writer Andersen lived a simple life, often walking on the street wearing a worn-out hat.A passer-by laughed at him: "What's that thing on top of your head? Could it be a hat?" Andersen replied, "What's that thing under your hat? Could it be a head?"

Humor is the lubricant of life communication, it occupies a pivotal position in people's life.But when we use humor, we must not abuse it. A punch line can bring relaxation and strength, but a continuous stream of punchlines, jokes, and sarcasm can also cut off communication.

humorous fun

Humor is a special kind of emotional expression.It is a tool for people to adapt to the environment, and it is one of the ways to reduce mental and psychological pressure when human beings face difficulties.The Russian writer Anton Chekhov said: People who don’t know how to joke are hopeless people.It can be seen that everyone in life should learn to be humorous.A little more sense of humor, a little less panting, a little less paranoid extremes, a little less cannibalism.

Humor can dilute people's negative emotions and eliminate depression and pain.People with a sense of humour, life is full of fun, many things that seem painful and annoying, but they deal with it with ease.Using humor to deal with troubles and contradictions will make people feel harmonious, happy and friendly.So, how do you develop a sense of humor?

Understand the inner meaning of humor, point out the shortcomings or advantages of others wittily and quickly, and affirm or deny them with a smile.Humor is not glib, mocking or ironic.As a famous person said: impetuousness is difficult to be humorous, pretentiousness is difficult to be humorous, sharp-edged is difficult to be humorous, dullness is difficult to be humorous, dull and clumsy is difficult to be humorous, only calm, equal treatment, detachment, skillful, clever and thorough can be humorous.

To expand knowledge, humor is a manifestation of wisdom, which must be based on rich knowledge.Only when a person has the ability to assess the situation and has extensive knowledge can he be able to talk richly, make witty words interesting, and make appropriate metaphors.Therefore, in order to cultivate a sense of humor, one must explore extensively, enrich oneself, constantly collect humorous waves from a vast array of books, and extract humorous gems from the essence of celebrity anecdotes.

Cultivate sentiment, be optimistic about reality, and humor is the embodiment of a spirit of tolerance.To be good at understanding others, to make yourself learn to be humorous, you must learn to be magnanimous, overcome haggling, and be optimistic at the same time.Optimism and humor are close friends. If there is more fun and relaxation in life, more smiles and games, and more optimism and humor, then there will be no difficulties that cannot be overcome, and there will be no sad and worried people all day long. .

Cultivating deep insight, improving the ability to observe things, and cultivating the ability to be quick-witted and quick-witted is an important aspect of improving humor.Only by quickly capturing the essence of things, using appropriate metaphors and humorous language, can people feel relaxed.Of course, while being humorous, it should also be noted that important principles should not be neglected, that different problems should be treated differently, that there should be flexibility in dealing with problems, and that humor should not be out of the ordinary, so that humor can provide true meaning for human spiritual life. nourishment.

(End of this chapter)