Purim Torah

Purim Torah are humorous and satirical writings customarily read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Purim Torah can be simple or elaborate, and require no qualifications to write, other than a good sense of humor. Purim Torah authors, often displaying an amazing grasp of Jewish knowledge, playfully use some of the far-fetched methods of Talmudic logic and Biblical exegesis in order to reach absurd conclusions.^[1] Another popular method is "play on words" where a reasonable word or phrase is purposefully misinterpreted as something absurd that sounds similar. For example the verse in the Megilla that states "Vashti made a feast for the women" sounds similar (in Hebrew) to "Vashti was born of two women".

Parodies of Jewish life and the world have been found as early as the 12th century.^[2]

Ashkenazi culture has a variation of the Purim Torah that is acted out, often with elaborate costumes and is referred to as a Purim Shpiel, from the Yiddish for play.^[2]

Talmudic sources

Eliezer Segal points to a passage in the Talmud as the first Purim Torah. In a passage on Hulin 139b, a sage offers up a series of ridiculous puns in order to find allusions to characters from the Purim story in the Torah.^[2] Others such as Israel Davidson claim that while there is humor present in the Talmud, calling any part of it a parody is an overstatement.^[3]

References