No laughing Matter

Only those who have been victims of an adulterous spouse knows the very deep hurt it causes. And if there children affected, it's much worse. Some liberal Jews think that adultery, abortion and the like are victimless acts. They are not. THey are very serious indeed.

Anyone who would cry over David Letterman (besides his family) has a problem. The guy wants to be known as a joke!

Oh, lighten up! In fact I think it's exactly the opposite. Before any Jewish group makes a big noise about anything at all (especially offensive stuff) it should go to the Jewish Comedy Committee for a re-write. We have the talent for it. For example, our answer to morons like Gibson who say we run the world should be an apology and the excuse that we just can't get good help anymore. I mean, how intelligent can a dupe be, gentile or otherwise?

Rabbi, thank you for your insightful comments on the Letterman issue. Sometimes we laugh at ourselves to keep from crying about our situation.

Rabbi Salomon: I think you are very correct in your perspective on Letterman's life style and inappropriate joking. I've never had much respect for the man because he has seemingly a low standard of morality. The current situation validates my long held suspencion.

Letterman was not married when he had consensual sex with women on his staff. So there was no sin.

I absolutely disagree. People do joke about everything. There is an entire genre of humor dedicated to the tasteless and macabre. Nobody jokes about 9-11? There were jokes zinging around the internet by 9-12. Nobody jokes aboujt cancer? Also not true. Fact is, nobody jokes about cancer more than cancer patients themselves. Humor can be a way to cope with topics that are too painful to look at head on. Nothing is off limits. You just have to know your audience and respect their boundaries. As far as Letterman, He's been a dirtbag long before this scandal was brought to light. The fact that he jokes about it doens't bring him lower in my eyes than he already is.

The article in the New York Times refers to Letterman's behavior as "men behaving badly". That's a tap on the wrist, not even a slap. In the Judeo-Christian sense of dignity and morality, his behavior is not only bad, but sinful. The Book of Proverbs assures him that he will lose his common sense when he gets into adultery. More importantly, in this day and age, when an actual rape occurs against a woman every 20 minutes, those in positions of leadership are challenged to set and live a standard according to the Scriptures, calling those whom they love and lead to that same standard. Thank you for the platform to express opinion.

Very sad for David Letterman to do this, but unfortunately, not suprising...

Mr Letterman - the Almighty takes heed. Laugh at yourself before they laugh at you; but make laughter at an others expense. No no!. Hang your head

right on,we joke about our morals?

I am one of the many Aish readers who eagerly looks forward to hearing Rabbi Salomon's views each week. However, to be fair to David Letterman, the story's facts deviates somewhat from the Rabbi's premise: It's very important, that if one is going to speak about something as serious as infidelity, then one should be absolutely correct. The facts of the David Letterman story are: 1) someone tried to extort money (2 million dollars) from Mr. Letterman by vowing to reveal knowledge of his past relationships unless he received the money he was seeking. 2) The primary relationship noted in the story took place several years ago, PRIOR to Mr. Letterman's marriage (which itself took place about 3-4 months ago) 3)The past relationship was with someone in his production company, BUT, it is important to note that these are 2 consenting adults, entitled to look for and seek love wherever they see fit. The above are the facts, and paint a picture far less explosive than I believe the Rabbi may be aware of. If we are to be weary of the damage that " Lushon Hara " can cause, then I believe we may have inadvertantly crossed the line here, in order to underscore a point, as innocent and well meaning as it was. Respectfully submitted, Barak F.

I decided to quit watching him anyway as I've watched him be very crude about many people and just decided I didn't need to listen to that. I think he is receiving measure for measure and it is NOT a joking matter.

yes, i can joke upon my sins! but also need to say to everybody i can't be the model; say people not to follow you, and promisse you are trying not to repeat them- you should respect yourself and find the right path!!!

What the real crime is how he humiliated his wife. I think it must be hard for her to go out and not feel embarassed by this situation. On the other hand it's very hard for guys like me and him who women throw themselves at all the time. You should see what I put up with at Pico Glatt.

Mary wasn't recommending Ahmed, just pointing out that he exists. The comedian who voices Ahmed just got his own show on Comedy Central. Not funny to me, but apparently to somebody. There have also been comedians who found humor in their own travails with cancer and other serious diseases. The difference is that those humorists are careful not to trivialize the issue, unlike Letterman and the Ahmed guy. Letterman's crime includes not only sexual immorality but abuse of his authority -- the young women involved were after all his employees. Again, not funny to me. Finding out that David Letterman is as disfunctional and abusive in his private life as he is on the air is really no revelation. CBS doesn't need to fire him, but he himself would do well to spend some time reflecting on the implications of his behavior with a clergy person from whatever tradition he comes from.

I'm glad i'm not alone in not being amused by dave Letterman's joking about his situation. I believe he's doing the right thing by not giving in to blackmail; appeasing bullies only invites more extortion. But doing the right thing in his case is absolutely a difficult and painful thing to do, for him, his wife, and an innocent child. I would have had so much more respect for him if on his TV show he had been serious. truly, it could have been what educators call a teachable moment. he could have said that he had made serious mistakes in his personal life and now has his current troubles... and that he urges anyone who is involved in innapropriate relations or behavior to see what he's going tyhrough and stop now.

This is about the Achmed video. I looked at it out of curiosity. It is sick. Not at all funny and the comments below it were equally gross. As for Letterman I rarely watched him anyway and will watch him even less. He is not at all attractive so what were these women thinking.

I totally agree and there is good and bad taste in jokes. Certainly it cannot be funny to the women involved, and it's demeaning something that belongs in the realm of sacred. What he has done, however, was sparked a column that makes us think, deeply, about how we joke, what we demean, this big issue of hurt, in making fun. There is nothing fun about hurt, and in this case, I see he is wounding people and himself, by such exposure.

As the good Rabbi stated, humor is a tool to convert the serious, dangerous or noteworthy into the acceptable, common or ordinary. While it can unseat a despot, it can also unseat goodness. We term the latter, "Mocking" and that is what Mr. Letterman vicariously did to all our marriages. I turned off the TV 11 years ago (ok, my wife Gina did) and pick and choose what tripe I'll view. I had to watch his monolounge act on the internet and even then I didn't finish it. Sad from every angle.

I understand the idea of Rabbi Yaakov, but we cannot mix immorality about joking about pain, sickness, death,....with joking about sex... and may be love. I believe the level of puritanism in our country is becoming worrysome. don't take my statement as an approval for david L. comportment, but remenber there is no rape, underage... it's consenting adults. This is just a note to get a relative judgement on this topic, knowing that the public was laughing but I don't think he intend to joke about it...

It's time that everyone speak out against the moral decline in this nation. I stopped watching Letterman and many shows long ago.

He not only insults God, but insults his wife by making it a public issue. He publicly mocks and diminishes the sacredness of marriage. How terrible for his wife,. How terrible for God. Most of all, how terrible for himself

and consider Norman Lear, who used humor to change the morals of America...by formula. a shocking statement...cut to the commercial so we forget just how shocking the "new" value is ...cycle us down to the pit...laughing our selves to DEATH via sitcoms.

Indeed, humor has it's limits.

I could not agree more. Thank you for standing up for much maligned morality. But then Letterman has never had much respect for anything or anyone decent.

I found Mary's suggestion regarding the comedy routine "Ahmed the Dead Terrorist " to be very inappropriate, and I hope for her comment will be removed from the blog.

Just a small point: watch the comedy routine Ahmed the Dead Terrorist on Youtube.It is a few years old at this point. And yes the language is not all formal English and includes slang.

Again, the danger of scoffing is that it trivializes that which is of import even that which is sacred. We need things to be sacred in our lives-else it is meaningless. Yes, he is trivializing his wrongdoing; I cannot imagine the hurt it causes his wife, although one could say that she might have known what she was in for. He hurts himself, his own credibility and yes, downgrades the importance of morality further. But I think that morality is a truth and truth has a way of reasserting itself. There will be, if there are not already consequences to his behavior.

When Letterman jokes about Clinton,Spitzer ,Edwards etc you seem to believe that he is not implying that their lapses are less serious , but as you said that's the effect of making a joke. You do realize when he jokes re himself that he is implying that he thinks his own lapses are not very serious. That was indeed his point and while for an Orthodox Jew that kind of behavior would be a serious sin it seems to me that for much of society it's viewed as a minor failing. I suspect getting caught is what many are remorseful about. Do the secular societal values influence Orthodox Jewish values? Yes as opposed to the reverse which is our mission but that's another topic. How does one change societal norms so that one has a real oppt'y for tshuva? If Letterman feels it was not serious and his fans and sponsers agree there does not seem to be much to do other than to let it be known that others feel differently and vote accordingly when given the opportunity

Seems that comedian has thick skin and he doesn't care too much. I'm sure he would rationalize getting himself into that mess (in one way or another). I personally find it terrible. I am aware that public persons are under specific pressure, but even being there for many years, they still do poor choices. Well, 'gain wisdom, gain understanding' -- isn't that what Bible says?!

I don't usually agree with you, Rabbi, bu I gotta say - whoa!