Jokes From Shaf
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July 1, 2025
Update 1198
Next Update
July 8, 2025
DID YOU KNOW THEY
WERE ON SNL
PART 1 UPDATE
A look at some of the best Jewish Stand-Up comics every week on the
Jewish Jokes Page, so take a listen as The Chairman brings you this
weeks Kosher laugh fest...
New Yorkers hungry for fresh mountain air, delicious food, and the American way of leisure used to flock to the Catskills by the thousands, and by the 1950s, more than a million people inhabited the summertime world of bungalow colonies, summer camps, and small hotels. These institutions not only shaped American Jewish culture, enabling Jews to become more assimilated, but at the same time introduced the American public to the culture of our immigrant Jewish population.
The Growth of the Catskills Resort Region
The Catskills had already been a resort area for non-Jewish Americans in the 19th century prior to when Eastern European Jews began to emigrate here in the early 20th century. Some of these immigrants became farmers in the area and as their Jewish peers living and working in more urban areas became more prosperous, they looked to do something they could never have imagined doing in the old country: take a vacation! However, they weren’t welcome in most of what was still an anti-Semitic world. In the 1920s and into the 1930s, some hotels and resorts’ advertisements refused to accept Jews and even indicated “No Hebrews” in their ads. This issue led to a need for alternatives that would readily accept Jewish families as guests.
In response to this, Jewish farmers began taking on boarders. Their boarding houses morphed into small hotels and bungalow colonies — a cluster of small rental summer homes. “Borscht Belt” hotels, bungalow colonies, summer camps, and kuchaleyns (a Yiddish name for self-catered boarding houses) flourished. These bungalows usually included a kitchen/living room/dinette, one bedroom, and a screened porch, with simple entertainment such as bingo or a movie. The kuchaleyns were also visited often by middle and working-class Jewish New Yorkers. The larger hotels provided Friday night and holiday services, as well as kosher cooking. Because of the many Jewish guests, this area was nicknamed the Jewish Alps and “Solomon County” (a modification of Sullivan County) by many people who visited there.
The Good Times
Once Jews began to vacation in the Catskills in large numbers, they began to develop their own built-in communities in the area. Farms, businesses, professionals, day schools, yeshivas… Yiddish was spoken within these communities, too, and 95 percent of them were kosher. They enjoyed being around their own people, and being as the big resorts — like Grossinger’s, Kutsher’s, the Concord, and the Nevele — basically pioneered the “all-inclusive vacation” it became quite popular amongst the Jewish American population. These big resorts offered three meals a day, snacks, child care, entertainment, sports facilities, everything you can get now nowadays in all-inclusive resorts!
Some resorts, such as Grossinger’s, came complete with their own airstrip and post office. That resort served about 150,000 guests a year and became the first resort in the world to use artificial snow for skiing! Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club, near Monticello, was the longest running of the Borscht Belt resorts. It was also known as a sports mecca. The legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach stayed there, and Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain worked there as a bellhop while in high school. Boxers Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson, and Leon Spinks all trained at Kutsher’s, too. The Concord, in Kiamesha Lake, was the largest of the resorts with more than 1,500 guest rooms and a dining room that sat 3,000.
The entertainment was also first-rate. Musicians like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Dean Martin, and comics Rodney Dangerfield, Henny Youngman, Woody Allen, and Jerry Seinfeld all toured the hotels.
The Downfall of Catskills Tourism
The Borscht Belt resorts reached their peak in the 1950s and 60s, often accommodating up to 150,000 guests a year after access to the area improved with the opening of the George Washington Bridge and the upgrade of old travel routes such as old New York State Route 17. However, tourism in the Catskills region began to decline by the late 1960s. Railways began cutting service to the area, and passenger train access became limited with the September 1953 termination of some passenger trains through the Borscht Belt. According to a 1940 vacation travel guide published by the railroad, there were hundreds of establishments listed that were situated at or near the railway’s stations. The following year, the New York Central ceased running passenger trains on its Catskill Mountain Branch and the area suffered further as a travel destination in the late 1950s and especially by the 1960s.
The popularity of air travel also increased, and as it was cheap it allowed the new generation to visit more exotic and warmer destinations. This coincided with the decline of anti-Semitism, so Jews were now more accepted to go other places. Lastly, more and more women began remaining in the workforce after marriage, and could not take off for the entire summer to relocate to the Catskills anymore. By the late 1950s, many began closing, with most gone by the 1970s, despite some major resorts continuing to operate (a few of them into the 1990s!).
Here is a look at the Catskills and then the comics who rose to fame there...
It is the year 2025 and Noah lives in the United States.
The Lord speaks to Noah and says, "In one year, I am going to make it rain and cover the whole earth with water until all is destroyed." "But I want you to save the righteous people and two of every kind of living thing on the earth. Therefore, I am commanding you to build an Ark."
In a flash of lightning, God delivered the specifications for an Ark. Fearful and trembling, Noah took the plans and agreed to build the Ark."Remember," said the Lord, "you must complete the Ark and bring everything aboard in one year."
Exactly one year later, a fierce storm cloud covered the earth and all the seas of the earth went into a tumult. The Lord saw Noah sitting in his front yard weeping.
"Noah," He shouted, "where is the Ark?"
"Lord, please forgive me!" cried Noah. "I did my best, but there were big problems.
First, I had to get a permit for construction and your plans did not comply with the codes. I had to hire an engineering firm and redraw the plans. Then I got into a fight with OSHA over whether or not the Ark needed a fire sprinkler system and floatation devices."
"Then my neighbor objected, claiming I was violating zoning ordinances by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission."
"I had problems getting enough wood for the Ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to protect the Spotted Owl. I finally convinced the US Forest Service that I needed the wood to save the owls. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service won't let me catch any owls. So, no owls."
"The carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Union. Now I have 16 carpenters on the Ark, but still no owls.
When I started rounding up the other animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. They objected to me only taking two of each kind aboard.
Just when I got the suit dismissed, the EPA notified me that I could not complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact statement on your proposed flood. They didn't take very kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of the Creator of the universe."
"Then the Army Corps of Engineers demanded a map of the proposed new flood plain. I sent them a globe.
Right now, I am trying to resolve a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that I am practicing discrimination by not taking godless, unbelieving people aboard!"
"The IRS has seized my assets, claiming that I'm building the Ark in preparation to flee the country to avoid paying taxes. I just got a notice from the state that I owe them some kind of user tax and failed to register the Ark as a recreational water craft."
"Finally, the ACLU got the courts to issue an injunction against further construction of the Ark, saying that since God is flooding the earth, it is a religious event and therefore, unconstitutional."
"I really don't think I can finish the Ark for another 5 or 6 years!" Noah wailed.
The sky began to clear, the sun began to shine and the seas began to calm. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up hopefully. "You mean you are not going to destroy the earth, Lord?"
"No," said the Lord sadly "I don't have to. The Government already has."
And today's Jewish Joke looks at the story of Noah, from a 2025 perspective...
With all the submissions The Chairman gets each day, this topic is the most popular.
With this in mind, we now have a category which features "The Jewish Joke of The Day".
July 1, 2025
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