Shlemiels & Shlimazels

Paramount's "Dinner for Schmucks"

I was recently trying to explain the Yiddish meaning of the words Shlemiels & Shlimazels to a non-Jewish friend. He wasn't familiar with the expressions so I guess Laverne & Shirley must not be any of the reruns he watches. The terms could be explained by the recent movie, "Dinner for Schmucks," in which Steve Carell does an amazing job of portraying a lovable Shlemiel with Paul Rudd as the unfortunate Shlimazel whose life is irrevocably changed by their chance meeting.

The comedic value of Shlemiels & Shlimazels will be further explored on Wednesday, August 29, at 7:30PM at the Ethelbert Crawford Public Library at 393 Broadway in Monticello. They will host a special evening lecture by Ruth Adler, entitled "Faces of Jewish Humor: The Saga of the Shlemiel and the Shlimazel."

Humor has served as an effective tool for addressing adverse circumstances. Jewish writers have availed themselves of it in good measure. The shlemiel and the shlimazel - the clumsy oaf and the hapless fool - have been favorite prototypes of Jewish humor. The three famed classicists of Yiddish literature, Mendele, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz, have made extensive use of these prototypes to pinpoint human foibles, sometimes with empathy and compassion, at other times, with a satiric edge.

In this presentation, we will describe the travails of the shlemiel and the shlimazel as they have been depicted in the writings of the three major East-European writers, and also explore their appearance in earlier periods. In our journey, we are sure to detect echoes of the shlemiel and the shlimazel in contemporary society, and perhaps learn to laugh at our own foibles as we go about our mundane activities.

This lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state-affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This program is free and opens to the public. For more information call the library at 845-794-4660.