Jewish Puns XXXIV: Mordechai’s Shivim Punim LaTorah

by Mordechai Stein

Got this sad video game for Chanukah. It needed a gaming console. (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? Console. Gaming console. To console the console. Console and console sound very different. Same word but sounds very different. Which is why this pun is best delivered in a letter. Games have feelings too. They just sound different.
 
She got so much money for Chanukah. She felt so Gelty. (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? Gelt is money. Guilty. Here it’s Gelty. Guilty about Gelt. Gelty pockets are heavy. Something meaningful to that statement. It should be a saying. If it wasn't it is now. And it's very true if it's coins. Chocolate Gelty pockets can get very messy. Check that out. Another saying.

It seemed like the paper heard everything. It was a flyer on the wall. (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? Fly on the wall. Flyer on the wall. We added the “er." Shuls have flyers, so it's a Jewish pun.

Yosef saw Yaakov switch his right hand to Efraim, and he started thinking the Bracha about children propagating was kind of fishy. (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? He said they should “propagate like fish.” Fish. Fishy. Fishy means suspicious. There’s something fishy about this pun. Especially, Yaakov switching his hands. In order to understand a pun, you should have a decent knowledge of the Torah.

That store city Pitom went up real fast. (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? Pitom means “suddenly” in Hebrew. The name of the city the Jews built. The Jews built it real fast because the Egyptians were burdening them. The Jews suffered with it. Lisbol Sivlotam. Chinuch. And that is why you probably shouldn't be laughing at this pun. Some puns are serious. They're supposed to remind you of slavery.
Shoreshes, roots of Hebrew words, are great for puns. Sometimes the pun is the exact meaning of the word. Which begs the question if it’s funny or not. It’s up to you if you want to laugh, or if you want it to be meaningful. I’m not going to judge you all the sudden. Maybe you have a dark sense of punner.

The shul had a juicing event. Bernie said, “I didn’t come to shul for a choir.” (Rabbi Mendel)
You get it? Juicing sounds like “Jews sing.” Juicing is how you make smoothies. They were making smoothies. They were also singing. Jewsing. An event with two activities.

The Talmid developed another birth mark, and the rebbe said, “Nach a Mol.” (Mordechai)
You get it? Nach a Mol means “still one time.” This hear means “another mole.” You just have to work some English into the Yiddish there, and it works.

​***Note: We learned a lot from the puns these past couple months. You will definitely think twice before laughing the next time you hear a pun. We just suggest here at the Kibbitzer that you think about the Shoresh and the puns effect on the Jewish people before you laugh.