Where can I not tell this joke....

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My boyfriend stumbled upon a rather clever joke the other day, and while we both like it, we can’t really decide whether or not it is “polite” (or whatever the term is).

Basically, its a joke featuring jews (gasp!) but it does’ny make fun of them that I can tell. The joke is funny because its clever.

If I told this joke in front of strangers (not to strangers mind; I don’t tell jokes to strangers), would I be in risk of offending anybody?

The joke:

"A jewish man living in New York felt it was time that his son gained a better understanding of his culturall background, and so shipped the boy off to Israel for a time. When the boy came back, his father asked him if he felt he had gained anything from his time there. “Yes I have,” the boy said. “Israel was great. And by the way, father, I have converted to christianity.” The father was clearly upsett by this bit of news, but the boy would tell him no more.

Some time later, the man told his best friend of his troubles. “Thats strange,” said the friend. “As you know, I have a soon as well, and I sent him to Israel like you did. And my son came back a christian too.” Both men thought this was too strange to be a coinsidense, so they asked their rabbi if he had any likely explanation for it. “Hmm,” the rabbi said. “This is really strange. I too have a son, and the same thing happened when I sent him to Israel.”

Sensing they had stumbled upon a great mystery, the three men desided to pray to their god for guidance. And God did indeed answer them. “Funny you should mention it,” God said. “I sent my son to Israel too…”"

Ok, so the joke is suspiscious, possibly blasphemous, but funny. Is it offensive?
I post this to MPSIMS, because I’m unlikely to ever tell the joke to people likely to take offense (my one jewish friend has a sense of humour, fortunately), ans so its more a “share a funny problem” post then anything else.

And feel free to post your own borderline jokes. I’d like too see them. :smiley:

2

I think Jews could well find it offensive, as the premise of the joke is that Christianity is the True Religion… Somehow I think that could come across as more fundamentally upsetting than simply playing on stereotypes.

How about this one for borderline?

A priest and a rabbi get into a car accident at an intersection. The collision is bad enough that neither car is driveable, yet both drivers are unhurt. The traditional argument about who had the right of way ensues, nearly to the point of blows. After a while, the rabbi puts his hands up and says, “Wait, wait. We are both men of God, it does not become us to get so caught up like this. In fact, we should be thanking God for the minor miracle that you and I are both without a scratch!”

“I suppose you’re right,” said the priest.

“I was just on my way back from getting a case of wine for Passover, this seems like a good occasion for a blessing and offering of thanks. What do you say?”

The priest agrees, so the rabbi fetches out a bottle from his trunk and two travel coffee mugs. He fills them about halfway each with the wine, and they each say their respective blessings over it and give prayers of thanksgiving. The priest has never had Manishevitz before but finds the flavor quite sweet and soda-like, and soon finishes the entire cup.

He looks up to see the rabbi finishing his prayer by pouring his wine into the grass. “I’m sorry, was I not supposed to drink the wine? Is it only drunk at Passover?”

“No, no, it’s fine, you can drink it any time. I’ll wait until after the police arrive though.”

3

It is? :confused: Did you read the same joke I read?

4

I try to avoid telling quasi-religious jokes in mixed company anymore, unless I know the listeners really well. I once told a joke to a (Christian) coworker who thought it was hilarious, and insisted that I tell Alan (a Jewish coworker), since he’d find it hilarious. A few days later I bumped into Alan in the copy room and told him that Mike wanted me to tell him this joke:

A priest, a minister and a rabbi were walking through the woods on a swelteringly hot summer day. After a couple of hours, they turned a corner and in the clearing they saw a crystal clear lake. One of them suggested that considering how long they had been walking, and the temperature, and the fact that nobody else was around, they should strip down and take a dip.

They took off their clothes, left them piled by the side of the lake and dove in. An hour later, after they had sufficiently cooled off, they decided to carry on with their walk. Just as they stepped out of the lake, a group of schoolchildren and their teachers emerged from the woods right where the three men stood, naked to the world.

The priest instinctively covered his genitals with his hands, as did the minister. The rabbi covered his face.

After the teachers hustled the kids along the path, the priest and minister questioned the rabbi- what’s the matter with you? Why would you expose yourself to the children like that?

The rabbi answered [Jackie Mason voice]: About you, I cannot tell, but in my congregation, it is my face they will recognize! [JMv]
When I finished the joke, Alan looke me dead in the eye, expressionless, and walked out of the room. It was pretty awkward for a while after that, but I didn’t really understand why. If anything, it ridiculed the priest and minister, and made the rabbi out to be the quick thinker, more logical of the three, and the implication that the kids might have “recognized” the genitals of the other two is kind of a slam on the christian church, considering its share of sexual abuse by church leaders.

So I avoid that kind of joke these days.

5

I never saw that, although I suppose it could be construed from " a son of God going to Israel"=“Jesus was the son of God”. Thats not really the point of the joke though.

6

As Septima phrased it, I interpreted it as “a son of God going to Israel”=“Jesus was the son of God”, which is clearly the “point” of the punch line and in the context of the joke is coming from God Himself. I can’t really say whether or not a Jew would find it offensive, not being one myself, but I could imagine feeling uncomfortable, as in wondering if I was being set up for some kind of imminent conversion pitch. It’s say it’s probably fine for telling someone who’s a personal friend, but not to a new acquaintance or co-worker.

OTOH it could be as inoffensive to a Jew as the following is to an atheist:

Nietszche: “God is dead.”
God: “Nietszche is dead.”
Nietszche: "Ooh, ow, hot, hot… How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?

7

What abou this joke, which was popular with the Catholic kids in my neighborhood growing up:

Jesus comes across a group of people about to stone a woman to death for adultery and stops them, saying: Let whoever among you is without sin, cast the first stone.

There is silence, and people start dropping their stones and drifting away. Suddenly a rock comes flying out from somewhere behind Jesus and hits the woman on the head. After this, the crowd gleefully picks up their rocks again and go back to stoning the woman.

Jesus whirled around angrily, and shouted: “Oh, come on, Ma! How many times do I have to ask you to quit following me around!”

8

OK, now that’s a funny joke. I too thought it was a slam at the Catholics for the sex abuse cases.

About the OP, it’s not a very funny joke, which leads me to think that it was written by a Christian fundamentalist. They have odd ideas about humor.

9

I’m not religious at all, but I get the same feeling about the first joke as the others. It’s not terribly. . . ecumenical. Sounds like it’s written for Christians for Christians, which is fine if you’re telling it to Christians. I get a vague humorous-witnessing vibe from it, though, and it’s rather pointedly commenting on Judaism versus Christianity. I’d half be expecting you to hand me a pamphlett next.

10

This one requires the visual: Why did the blond girl run into the catholic church? …She heard there was a guy in there hung like this (stretchs arms out wide)

11

A priest and a rabbi are on a plane talking. The priest asks the rabbi: “I know it is forbidden to eat pork in your religion but tell me - have you not tried it before, just to see what it tasted like.” The rabbi admits that he did once taste a piece of bacon.
After a while the rabbi asks the priest: “I know sex is forbidden to you but have YOU ever tried it.” The priests admits that in his younger days he did indeed once indulge in the “pleasures of the flesh”.
The rabbi smiles at him and says " Better than pork, isn’t it?"

12

See, this is why I asked. I’m not very religious, and I don’t get this at all. My boyfriend, who is a christian (the good kind, mind you) had this interpretation:

“Ok, god sends his kid to Israel too pick up a few cultural pointers. While there, the son goes nuts, and decides to start his own buisiness. Morale: don’t send your kids where you can’t monitor what they pick upp.”

Thats what makes the joke “borderline” i guess; its open to interpretation, and some might get it wrong.

13

I think the joke in the OP has a smug, glurge-y feel to it and isn’t very funny. It does imply that Christianity is the One True Religion. It’s not the most offensive joke I’ve ever heard but it is kind of witless and self-satisfied.

14

That’s how I looked at it too, but I can definitely understand why some other people would perceive it as “witnessing” and as an implication that Christianity is The One True Religion.

For this one, while I don’t think it is slamming Jewish people, I can see why someone would be offended because it’s referring to how Jewish men are all circumcised. A lot of people just aren’t comfortable with jokes about sexual topics.
I guess it’s also possible that he was just sensitive to the issue of jokes about Jewish people because they tend to be offensive and stereotypical even if this particular one wasn’t.

Sorry to hear it caused such awkwardness. It is always unfortunate when something meant in fun ends up hurting feelings.

15

I didn’t think your joke was offensive. I even laughed a little. I could see why some would see it as quasi-proslytizing, but that’s not how I took it.

How about this one:

*Isaac, a nice little old Jewish man, is walking through a Berlin park in the Thirties. Suddenly a big limousine pulls up beside him, and Heinrich Himmler jumps out, in full uniform. He points a pistol at Isaac and barks, “Jewish swine! Eat that dogshit on the sidewalk!” The man sees the Gestapo chief is dead serious, so he reluctantly gets down on his hands and knees and starts eating the dogshit.

Himmler laughs so hard he drops his gun. Isaac immediately picks up the gun, and says, “OK, Mr. Big Shot, now YOU eat the dogshit!”

Himmler swears a blue streak but gets down on his hands and knees and starts eating the dogshit. Isaac waits until Himmler’s finished, then knocks him out with the butt of the gun and runs back home.

His wife lets him in. “So, how was your day?” she asks.

“I’ve had better. But you’ll never believe who I had lunch with…”*

16

Wha…? It refers to circumcision? That thought has never entered my mind.

17

+1

18

Me either. I thought the humor just came from the Rabbi being smart enough to realize that hiding his face would protect him more than hiding his genitals. Nobody was going to be able to recognize him from seeing his junk. The same thing was true for the other two but they just weren’t quick enough to realize it. If anything, there might be some kind of subtle implications about the Christians valuing propriety (or sexual puritanism) over self-preservation but circumcision never would have crossed my mind.

19

I don’t think that the subject matter of the OP’s joke should be taken all that seriously as a effort to convert the listener. After all, how many people looked at robardin’s joke as an assertion that Jews are smarter than Christians?

20

Nor mine, and I’m surprised that’s how others got it. This just goes to show that my grandfather was a very wise man when he said that when it comes to politics or religion, be very careful to whom you tell jokes.