The Uses of Laughter

MAY/ J UNE 1989 IVOLUME 4 , N UMBER 3 The UsesofLaughter byEnidDame 1. The army is closingvegetable markets. Chickens scatter. A boy bites a sandwich. It looks likefalafel and pitabread. Asoldier knocks it out ofhis hand as ifitwere dangerous. They arekicking in doors, they aretearing up olive trees. That man was struck down in front ofhis family. Thatgirl was shot dead by her bodyguard. Meanwhile, the children throw stones. Terriblethings are done in our namemy name, andyours, which means "hea1t" in theirlanguage. Hearts can be dangerous things for boys in NewYork carry through schoolyards and streets. Butyou learned howto jokeyour way out ofviolence, how to make people laugh \>vith words aimedprecisely as spitballs. This is an ancient skill ow· tribeperfected in dark European ghettos. We were a nation ofstand-up comics, lawyers, negotiators, people who said words mattered. Now we're like everyone else whatdo we do with history? How do we learnto forget? Smash all ourwindows and mirrors? Seal offthe doorto the cellar where memories scrabble like mice, wherewords knitlike bones? the organized driveto forget, butalso theinnocentforgetting , the result ofassimilation or simple lack ofinterest in the remnants ofthe Jewish possessions which a person carries "vith him orherself, as an actofterrible renunciation. Thosewho causeforgetting, to say nothingofthose who deny, cooperatewith theenemy.Those who assimilate complete the Nazis' work. Those who 2. Whatdoes myenemy look like? Is he that child hurling rocks on the Evening News? Is shethat child throwingtaunts at the back ofour demonstration? We scream, "Peace Now!" They scream, "Not one inch!" I inch back to look in herface. Itis a minor. Behind banicades, the daughter I chose notto have calls me traitor. 3. On thewayhome you and I stop to buyvegetables. Our partofBrooklyn's called Little Odessa afteryour grandfather's hometown. He wore your name, played the fiddle, wasjumped by a gangofchildren. They killed him for being himselfa Jew in the wrongplace. Nowwe finger onions and yellow squash. I say, "Let's boycottIsraeli tomatoes." You say, "The wrong strategy! Bettertomatoes than bullets or, for that matter, stones:· And I picture children heavingtomatoes at soldiers who aim water pistols filled with tomatojuice. The floors ofthe world growslick and messy. The airturns sodden. Atsomepoint, everyonelaughs. It's a scenefrom an old-time movie the kind you played hookey to watch when you were a funny kid in a less dangerous time learning the uses oflaughter. are faithful to themselves, and to their people, will repeatthe tale untilthe end oftime. Even ifa thousand years pass and allthedocuments arelost, the revelation of Evil will be present in the midst of the nation throughthe countlessthreads ofits common memory. Absolute Evil must be remembered in exquisite detail. 20 TIKK UN WWW. T IKKUN . ORG NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 ...