David Minkoff

You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate this collection of Jewish jokes, writes Peter Gruner

The Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes by David Minkoff
Robson Books, £6.99

What began as a schoolboy hobby, almost 50 years ago, is about to propel Camden marketing manager David Minkoff into the international world of comedy books.
The 61-year-old grandfather from Edgware began the painstaking task of writing down and cataloguing Jewish jokes soon after his 13th birthday. Later he would rush home from his job at solicitors Hodge Jones and Allen, in Camden Road, Camden Town each evening and collate more humour.
“I’d hear jokes when as a youth when I played football for North London Maccabi club in West Hampstead,” he said, “I’d write them down on a piece of paper so that I could remember them.”
Last year he discovered he had nearly 1,500 jokes on his website www.awordinyoureye.com, which is currently one of the most popular sites for Jewish jokes on the internet.
It was time to translate his hobby into book form. So the Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes was born and launched at the Jewish Book Week last month.
He said: “The book has been a life long enthusiasm and has taken up hundreds of hours of my spare time. But it has been worth it. I’d do a full day’s job and come home and work on my jokes in the evening.
“But it was not just a cut and paste job. I’d re-write them all in my own style so that there is little chance of breaking the copyright rules.”
With more than 1,000 jokes in the book each one has had to be cross-referenced to ensure it is not being repeated.
While the website contains random examples of the genre the book is carefully catalogued.
“There are jokes for the early years, including topics on babies, circumcision, bar mitzvahs, anniversaries, marriage and relationships.
“There are jokes you can tell to children, jokes about old age, work, religion, and of course those two Jewish obsessions; health and food.”
He has no time for the obscene or offensive but there is a category for the slightly risqué sexual jokes.
He said: “There’s enough humour in the day-to-day suffering of ordinary life; you don’t need the jokes that might seriously offend or upset someone.”
He says he’s not a particularly brilliant joke teller and never wanted to be a comic but can usually remember one for a given occasion. Many of his best jokes have ended up back on the web or in books with just the religion and names changed. So, for example, instead of Abe walking down Hampstead High Street, it is Mohammed.
“Humour is universal,” he said. “I get feedback from Jews and non-Jews alike.
“People turn to my website to cheer themselves up. They may have even heard the joke before, but humour is like music, you can hear jokes again and never get tired of them.”
There is talk that the book will be published in the USA but whatever happens, he says, he won’t be giving up the day job.
“It’s not going to make me a rich man, I’m afraid,” he added. “It’s just a hobby.”
His favourite jokes are invariably those closest to home, involving the men versus women or husbands versus wives.
It was not easy for him to choose his favourite joke.
“In the end he picked one about God and the end of the world.
“God tells women to go with St Peter and men to form two lines. Those who were dominated by women were told to form one line and it was 150 miles long. The line of men that dominated their women had just one man, Moshe.
“God is angry with men and says, ‘You men should be ashamed of yourselves. I created you in my image and yet you were all dominated by your partners. Look. only one of you stood up to make me proud. Learn from him.’
“He turns to Moshe and says: ‘Tell them, my son. How did you manage to be the only one in the line?’
“Moshe says, ‘I don’t know, my wife told me to stand here.’”
www.awordinyoureye.com