THE WISE FOOLS OF CHELM: HUMOR, YIDDISH LITERATURE, AND MAKING MEANING OUT OF NOTHING

Description

Jewish humor and wisdom through the tales of Chelm.

Location

ONLINE

Date & Time

THURSDAY, 10:00-11:30am (ET) March 5, 2026 - March 26, 2025

“The line between folly and wisdom is as fine as a hair, and many a sage has crossed it unknowingly.”
— S.Y. Agnon, from “The Fable of the Goat,”

 

Course Description :

Legend has it that when God sent an angel to distribute wise souls and foolish souls across the world, everything went smoothly—until the angel reached the little Polish shtetl of Chelm. Distracted by a mysterious flash in the next town, the angel hurried off… accidentally forgetting to leave any foolish souls there. And so Chelm became known as the village of the “wise,” at least according to the Chelmites themselves.

 

Welcome to the wonderfully serious, utterly illogical, and deeply meaningful world of Chelm.

 

In this four-week course, we’ll dive into Judaism’s silliest shtetl to explore humor, Polish Jewish history, and the rich tradition of Yiddish storytelling. Together, we’ll look at how the “wise fools” illuminate big ideas—using small misunderstandings—and how laughter has long been a Jewish tool for surviving, questioning, and finding wisdom in unlikely places.

 

Come ready to laugh, learn, and perhaps discover that the line between foolishness and wisdom is thinner than it seems.

  

 

THURSDAYS, 10:00-11:30am (ET)

Dates: Mar. 5, 12, 19, 26

 
About the Instructor:
 
 
 Rabbi Jason Cook jokes that he is a wandering Jew, having grown up in western New York, northern California, and Lake Oswego, Oregon (just south of Portland). He attended American University in Washington, D.C, where he studied International Relations. After graduating, he moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he worked in the Jewish non-profit world doing teen engagement. In South Florida, Rabbi Cook also met his wife, Phylicia. After five years of rabbinical school (including a year studying in Jerusalem), Rabbi Cook received his rabbinic ordination at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College in May 2021. Rabbi Cook and Phylicia are excited to be coming home to South Florida and to start a new adventure at the University of Miami Hillel with their son Micah. Rabbi Cook always has time to talk Jewish text and history, Torah, science fiction, and his beloved Portland Trail Blazers.

 
 
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