Hyman Batalion on the Essential Parts of Jewish Humor

Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded hundreds of in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture. 

The interviews in the growing collection are conducted in Yiddish and/or English with narrators of all ages from a variety of backgrounds. 

Hyman Batalion, Yiddish speaker and Montreal native, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on August 16, 2016, at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  

Back in April, we posted a clip from the interview, in which Batalion, father of YidLife Crisis co-creator Eli Batalion, reflected on some of the early Yiddish speaking Montreal comedians and retold some of the old jokes.

In this second clip from the interview, Batalion describes what he considers to be essential parts of Jewish humor.

Enjoy!

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