Articles #צחוק

In a relationship, humor has the power to help us reduce damage and minimize our conflicts. Sometimes instead of continuing to talk about a marital conflict, a good joke can move us from the place where we have already started to dig in without being able to get out. Sometimes the joke is the almost only way out of the unwanted place we have arrived at. It is also possible to use humor as a temporary way out, with the ability to return to the conflict at another time, after we have calmed down a bit.

And this laughter, which at first seemed inappropriate and out of place. And perhaps even a bit of a lack of faith, remained imprinted in the name of the son who bore the good news. It remained in the name of Isaac. And Rabbi Hirsch tells us how essential this "Isaac" is to us in the chain of the Jewish people. How essential it is for us to look to the future that Isaac will smile in the face of years of slavery, persecution and wars. How essential it is for us to look to the faith in the face of the "not one" who stood and stands and will stand over us.