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Do we find anywhere that Hashem finds anything humorous?
I mean, he gave us a sense of humor!
Some of the greatest gedolim had sharp wits!
Is that merely a defense mechanism so we can better cope with life or are we reflecting a higher divine attribute?
When He looks down and sees foolish Man building a tower of Babel or rushing headlong into a split sea does he chuckle to himself?
Didn’t I read somewhere that Hashem smiled and said, “My children have bested me!”
Is this a legitimate question?
There’s no such thing as an illegitimate hashkafa question. But the answer is an absolute No. HKB”H can have no emotions, no perception. Any form of emotion attributed to HKB”H should not be taken in literal terms.
Hashem doesn’t really experience any emotions the way we do. We express His way of dealing with us in terms of emotion – joy, anger, and sadness, for example, so I suppose we could express certain hanhogos as humor, although I can’t really think of examples. He certainly has a “sense” of humor in terms of understanding it and giving us the ability to be humorous.
Even in the so called “emotions”, which are obviously representations of something we cannot fathom – ‘humour’ is different. Anger, Disappointment, and other such emotions – can be used as descriptions of how HKB”H ‘reacts’ to us. Humor, however, isn’t a feeling towards a person or thing; it is a perception. HKB”H sees everything from ‘all angles’, as it where, and therefore the concept of humour doesn’t make sense, even as a metaphor.
As pointed out Hashem doesnt have emoions. We attribute our emotions to Him in order to relate/understand. We percieve Hashem as being Angry etc. In which case I dont get the question if you percieve something coming from Hashem (and everything does) as being humurous then Hashem has a sense of Humor.
Heres a (not great) example. I’m sure all know the classic joke of the Reform Rabbi who goes golfing on Yom Kippur and gets a hole-in-one. The Malachim ask God How can you allow this when the Rabbi is desecrating the holiest day. God replies: Who can he tell.
Now whether or not the joke is funny, is it kefira? Since it is attribuing an emotion to H”KBH?
More to the point though. Suppose the story was real, namely the reform Rabbi is golfing on Y”K and gets a hole-in-one. The Rabbi “gets” the joke and is annoyed at his hole-in-one since he cant tell anybody. and views it that way as if Hashem is “playing a prank” on him. Is that view kefira?
i specifically remember a gemara where Hashem kav v’yachol is laughing and flicking someone that complained that he was poor (in a dream) and light shone from the person’s forehead
Rabi Elazar ben Pedos?
could be the gemara has to be somewhere in nashim (my favorite seder)
http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/shas.aspx?mesechta=27&daf=3b&format=pdf
See ?????? as well, and ????”? on the ‘??.
He plays with the Lavyason
c.a.:
I think Taanis (25) is in Moed.
He created people who ask such questions. Chazal definitely had a sense of humor. See for example Sanhedrin 113a (at the bottom)-b (at the top).
Of course Hashem has a sense of humour. See Rashi and Ramban in Parshas Bo on ‘hisalalti’. See also Alshich. Egyptians thought they didn’t suffer so badly from Makas Borod because lots of crops still remained. The only reason why that was so was to feed all the reminder to the locusts. Hashem was laughing.
oh yeah, i also remember well taanis and megillah
of course Hashem has a sense of humor!!
Hashem put pesach where we can’t have chometz right after purim when we get boxes full of chometz!!! Hashem is hilarious!!!
It takes you a month to get rid of your mishloach manos? Oy.. maybe if you have the ‘American family’ – 1.7 children, one whole cat, one whole dog.
By us.. it’s gone basically within three days… Oh, yes, then there’s the dentist..
Mavmav,
“Hashem put pesach where we can’t have chometz right after purim when we get boxes full of chometz!!! Hashem is hilarious!!! “
During the story of Purim, all the Yidden fasted on Pesach.
This is Pesach’s way of having the last laugh.
Pesach has a sense of humor!
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