Monday, July 10, 2006
Muslim comedy; Secular Jews

In Monday's RNS report Omar Sacirbey takes a look at Muslim comedy: What tickles the funny bones of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims? Ahmed Ahmed has some answers. "How do you know you're a Muslim?" the Egyptian-American comedian asks, recalling one bit that worked in a recent show in Dubai. "When you drink, gamble and have sex but don't eat pork." Ba-da-boom. Comedy does indeed exist in the Muslim world. Stand-up is still a rarity in Muslim countries, but films, sitcoms and talk shows have been making Muslims laugh for decades. Even jokesters that some regimes just won't tolerate can still find captive audiences in the privacy of dinner parties or the ubiquitous cafes of the Middle East and other Islamic countries, where story- and joke-telling have been elevated to art forms. Secular Jews find a home in Godless Judaism, report David Briggs: "Good Shabbos." "Good Shabbos to you." The mostly older men and women leave their contributions to the potluck dinner up front, then exchange the traditional greeting throughout the dining room at the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. In a tradition extending back thousands of years, the Shabbat candles are lit after participants settle in at their tables. The ceremony continues with the drinking of wine and the breaking of bread. There was one strikingly different aspect about this Friday night gathering from most held in Jewish homes and synagogues. And it wasn't that it was taking place in the party room of a condominium complex -- there was no mention of God through the entire ritual.