It’s Thursday. That day that makes you realize how close you are to the weekend. You start to anticipate having some downtime and suddenly realize that you still have another full day of work before you can experience that well-deserved relaxation. It’s depressing, I know.

Let’s brighten the day with some good old fashion laughter. All you need to help ease the stress of the never-ending Thursday is some humor! So, as promised in last week’s post, I’ve put together a list of 5 must-read books on Jewish Humor. Take a break from today and have a laugh!

1. The Big Book of Jewish Humor – For those who don’t know it, this book is practically the bible for Jewish comedy. It contains jokes, short stories, comics, and more. You name it, and this book probably has it. It’s thanks to a cartoon that this book makes my top 5. And, never will I cease to be amused by the line “Today, I am a man!” Check out the chapter “Happy Bar Mitzvah, Bernie!” to experience!

2. Naked Pictures of Famous People – One of Jon Stewarts many publications, this book manages to cover tons of topics while maintaining a wit that makes Jewish humor so great. Honestly, the person who can mock Martha Stewart through a discussion of the female anatomy is someone after my own heart!

3. SeinLanguage – When it comes to Jerry Seinfeld, you can laugh or cry. While I don’t always find his material amusing, sometimes his banter is so funny that it’s all you can do to not spit on the person next to you as you laugh uncontrollably. In this book, Seinfeld mixes deprecation and social criticism to create the ideal Jewish comedy. Don’t get me wrong, not all of his stuff is funny, but this book gives you so many options that there’s something for everyone!

4. Mere Anarchy – For those of you that like Woody Allen’s style, you’ll definitely get a kick out of these short stories. While reading, I could practically hear Allen’s voice rapidly firing out these random and amusing anecdotes. I personally really like “The Rejection.” It sums up perfectly the absurdity worrying about getting your children into elite preschools. Read to enjoy!

5. Oy!: The Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes – While I don’t find this entire book terribly funny, a handful of the jokes found in it completely redeem it. As you might expect, the funnier jokes are found in the section on sex. Some of them are hilarious and probably for the same reason that oldjewstellingjokes.com is, since the characters are often old Jews. I thoroughly enjoyed the central joke on page 284. The combination of old Jews, dances, pantyhose, and sex will leave you laughing at the absurdity!

-Sarah