Rabbi Joseph Telushkin authored a book called Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews. In a section about parents and children, he shares the following:
\nTwo Jewish women who haven\u2019t see each other in twenty years run into each other on the street.
\n\u201cHow\u2019s your daughter Deborah?\u201d the first woman asks, \u201cthe one who marriedthat lawyer.\u201d
\n\u201cThey were divorced,\u201d the second woman answers.
\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m so sorry.\u201d
\n\u201cBut she got married a second time, this time to a surgeon.\u201d
\n\u201cMazal Tov!\u201d
\n\u201cThey were also divorced.\u201d
\nAt this point the first woman decides to keep her mouth shut. \u201cBut now everything is all right,\u201d her friend goes on. \u201cShe\u2019s married a third time, now to an architect\u2014and he\u2019s very successful.\u201d
\nThe first woman shakes her head from side to side.
\n\u201cMmmm, mmmm, So much nachus from one daughter!\u201d
\nNow in some ways this joke is obviously dated. The gender norms, the premise that the job of a daughter is to get married off to a successful professional, is not only dated but offensive. And yet, for all that, there are two truths about this joke that are not dated. Two truths that are timeless.
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