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Shmendrik (Yiddish: שמענדריק), also rendered as schmendrick or shmendrick is a Yiddish word meaning a stupid person or a little hapless jerk ("a pathetic sad sack" [1]). Its origin is the name of a clueless mama's boy played by Sigmund Mogulesko in an 1877 comedy Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh ( Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding ...
Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh (Yiddish: שמענדריק, אָדער, די קאָמישע חתונה, English: Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding) is an 1877 comedy by Abraham Goldfaden, one of the earliest and most enduring pieces in Yiddish theater.
The tradition of humor in Judaism dates back to the compilation of the Torah and the Midrash in the ancient Middle East, but the most famous form of Jewish humor consists of the more recent stream of verbal and frequently anecdotal humor of Ashkenazi Jews which took root in the United States during the last one hundred years, it even took root in secular Jewish culture.
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A shtick is a comic theme or gimmick.The word entered the English language from the Yiddish shtik (שטיק), related to German Stück, Polish sztuka, Cyrillic штука (all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stukkiją), all meaning "piece", "thing" or "theatre play"; Theaterstück is the German word for play (and is a synonym of Schauspiel, literally "viewing play" in contrast to Singspiel).
The truth that lies behind is that the Schnorrer, who in his thoughts treats the rich man’s money as his own, has actually, according to the sacred ordinances of the Jews, almost a right to make this confusion. The indignation raised by this joke is of course directed against a Law which is highly oppressive even to pious people.
A Yiddish saying explains that "a schlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup and a schlimazel is the person it lands on". [3] The schlemiel is similar to the schmuck but, as stated in a 2010 essay in The Forward , a schmuck can improve himself while "a schlemiel, a schlimazel and a schmendrik are irredeemably what they are".
In the comedy skits, Mel Brooks portrays a 2000 year old Jewish man who responds to questions posed by an interviewer played by Reiner. The works play on the explicit "otherness" created by Brooks' presentation in the Yiddish accent of "the non-assimilated, foreign-born outsider.