Jewish Humor, at U.C. Berkeley

Jewish Humor (Jewish Studies 120A.002) will be taught online Fall 2025 by Miriam Borden, at U.C. Berkeley.
Tu Th, 11am-12:30pm, Aug 28, 2025 – Dec 11, 2025.

This four-unit course will trace the history of humor among Jews in Europe and beyond, from the earliest instance of Yiddish writing in 1272 to Yiddish on Duolingo in 2025. This inquiry will take us back to Eastern Europe, where Yiddish-speaking Jews evolved their own distinct concept of themselves and the world around them. We will also collect jokes and analyze a variety of humorous genres (short fiction, film, stand-up, jokes, music) using a variety of analytical perspectives (historical, psychological, ethnographic, queer, and literary). We will examine how laughter has served in the Jewish tradition as both a coping mechanism and an instrument of self-defense

Available to community members through UC Berkeley Extension Concurrent Enrollment Program. Tuition and fees come to $3,750 (not a typo): $100 program application fee + $250 registration fee + $850/unit charge.

For more info, click Read More (below), call 510-642-7445, or write extension@berkeley.edu or concurrent@berkeley.edu.