Humor is defined as the ability to be amused by something seen, heard or thought about, sometimes causing you to smile or laugh. Humor also comes in many different forms. I’ll be focusing on the two forms I believe are at the base of the type of humor I’ve seen used since Oct. 7 – satire and dark humor.  

Satire is defined as the art of making someone or something look ridiculous, raising laughter in order to embarrass, humble or discredit its targets using humor and is often used as a tool to create or prevent a change. 

Dark humor is defined as a type of comedy that is often used to make light of difficult or taboo subjects and can be used to make people feel better about difficult situations or to make light of a situation that is normally considered to be serious.  

Interestingly, both types, while different in nature, tend to use sarcasm or irony as part of their messaging to help come across their point as even stronger. But while dark humor tries to get you to laugh (though the subject might not be appropriate), satire’s intent is to focus on making you feel uncomfortable, more than it is on getting you to laugh out loud.  

In times of crisis, humor, with its emphasis on satire and dark humor are typically used to deal with subjects that are hard for us to deal with (i.e., death, war, depression, trauma) in a way that is less serious and more light-hearted. This type of humor can be used to make people feel better about their situation or approach an otherwise taboo topic that needs to be talked about.  

After Israel was wrongfully accused of bombing the Al Shifa hospital, Eretz Nehedert Israel’s equivalent to SNL (Saturday Night Live) used humor to criticize the way world media was quick to blame Israel without any fact check, while also giving a stab at the historical one-sided reporting of the BBC in particular. 

At another time, Eretz Nehederet incorporates humor toshow Israel does not stay away from “joking” about painful subjects like the hostages, bringing to light the hard conversation about the outrage of UNRWA teachers keeping hostages in their homes to the front. 

These types of humor can also be used to shock people or to make them laugh in situations where they would not normally laugh. It is important to note though, that these types of humor should be used sparingly, since some would find it rude and extremely offensive.  

If used at the wrong moment, or in the wrong way, you could potentially make a bad situation worse. So, in short, humor helps us feel better about a situation which we feel we have no control over. By joking about it, we are actually comfortable in it.   

There are numerous examples on social media that highlight ways we poke fun at the situation to lighten what we are facing.  

In conclusion, though unnatural for us to think about a tragic event like October 7 in the same thought as humor and laughter, it is one of the ways for us in Israel, and for people around the world to cope with an unbearable situation that if we wouldn’t find a way to laugh about, even for a short while, the tears might never stop.