{"id":2061,"date":"2021-12-22T12:06:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2021-12-22T12:06:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:06:23","slug":"comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy night aims for religious diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Performers include (clockwise from upper left) Anna Tirat-Gefen, Carmiya Weinraub, Nick Baskerville, Noah Goldstein. Photos courtesy of Carmiya Weinraub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, three Jews, two Christians, three Muslims and a Buddhist will be walking into a synagogue and telling, in fact, meaningful jokes.<\/p>\n

They are a group brought together by Carmiya Weinraub, a local comedian and member of Kehilat Pardes, a synagogue in Rockville, who is producing and performing at an interfaith comedy night<\/a> to be held at the synagogue on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

The goal, Weinraub says, is to promote \u201ccross-cultural understanding through laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learn so much about other people when they are themselves and also share about their very particular experience,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd the particular is the universal, so if you are a person of faith, to hear about someone else\u2019s is a connecting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

When planning the show with the nine participating D.C.-area comics, Weinraub gave them two simple instructions: \u201cI said that they needed to touch on, at least a little bit, their religion, and that they could make fun of their own religion, but they couldn\u2019t make fun of anybody else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Baskerville, who will be telling jokes about being a Christian and the doubts that he\u2019s faced about his faith, hopes that the comedians\u2019 sets will draw out the similarities between all of their religions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different words and terms and holidays, but at some point, we\u2019ve all had the question of: How do I know what I know about my faith?\u201d he says. \u201cGetting to understand different people is starting off on what is the same and then branching out to understand the difference. So often people start from the other side and they never make it to the core because they\u2019re too busy fighting about the differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way comedy is structured \u2014 by building tension and then releasing it with a punchline \u2014 makes it an effective medium to engage audiences in controversial or divisive subjects, which religion can sometimes be. \u201cIf they laugh, they understand their joke and understand your point of view,\u201d Baskerville says. \u201cThey might not agree with it, but they understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughter encourages a feeling of connectedness. \u201cA lot of people perform comedy because they feel alone in some way,\u201d Weinraub says. \u201cWhen you get up there and share your view and people are laughing, you leave feeling less alone and more understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weinraub knew that Kehilat Pardes would welcome an event like this, because of the synagogue\u2019s emphasis on interfaith work. Rabbi Uri Topolosky values bringing people from different faiths together.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur congregation values our interfaith partnerships, and the valuable learning and growth that emerges each time we extend ourselves beyond the four walls of our community,\u201d Topolosky says.<\/p>\n

He was also excited to support the interests and talents of a member of his congregation. This will be the first time that Weinraub will perform her comedy at her synagogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on embracing a culture of change. One of the ways this manifests is by celebrating within the congregation the various interests and passions of our community members,\u201d Topolosky says.<\/p>\n

The group of comedians hopes to continue to perform together and bring the show to other places, including congregations, community centers and any other spaces interested in hosting them.<\/p>\n

The interfaith comedy night at Kehilat Pardes will be on Jan. 1. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. To attend, go to kehilatpardes.org\/event\/interfaith-comedy-night<\/a>\/.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, three Jews, two Christians, three Muslims and a Buddhist will be walking into a synagogue and telling, in fact, meaningful jokes. They are a group brought together by Carmiya Weinraub, a local comedian and member of Kehilat Pardes, a synagogue in Rockville, who is producing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":2071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[268,312,311],"yoast_head":"\nComedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Though it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, three Jews, two Christians, three Muslims and a Buddhist will be walking into a synagogue and telling, in fact, meaningful jokes. They are a group brought together by Carmiya Weinraub, a local comedian and member of Kehilat Pardes, a synagogue in Rockville, who is producing […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eleanor Linafelt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eleanor Linafelt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/\",\"name\":\"Comedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75323e02f8003a94cd6561ad0e856880\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg\",\"width\":573,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Performers include (clockwise from upper left) Anna Tirat-Gefen, Carmiya Weinraub, Nick Baskerville, Noah Goldstein. Photos courtesy of Carmiya Weinraub\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Comedy night aims for religious diversity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Montgomery Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75323e02f8003a94cd6561ad0e856880\",\"name\":\"Eleanor Linafelt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b41a3ee4162db7b94f3fdedd5c50f862?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b41a3ee4162db7b94f3fdedd5c50f862?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eleanor Linafelt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/eleanor-linafelt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Comedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Comedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine","og_description":"Though it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, three Jews, two Christians, three Muslims and a Buddhist will be walking into a synagogue and telling, in fact, meaningful jokes. They are a group brought together by Carmiya Weinraub, a local comedian and member of Kehilat Pardes, a synagogue in Rockville, who is producing […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/","og_site_name":"Montgomery Magazine","article_published_time":"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":573,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Eleanor Linafelt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eleanor Linafelt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/","name":"Comedy night aims for religious diversity - Montgomery Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-22T17:06:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75323e02f8003a94cd6561ad0e856880"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Comedians.jpg","width":573,"height":576,"caption":"Performers include (clockwise from upper left) Anna Tirat-Gefen, Carmiya Weinraub, Nick Baskerville, Noah Goldstein. Photos courtesy of Carmiya Weinraub"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/comedy-night-aims-for-religious-diversity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Comedy night aims for religious diversity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/","name":"Montgomery Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75323e02f8003a94cd6561ad0e856880","name":"Eleanor Linafelt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b41a3ee4162db7b94f3fdedd5c50f862?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b41a3ee4162db7b94f3fdedd5c50f862?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eleanor Linafelt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/eleanor-linafelt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2061"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2072,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061\/revisions\/2072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}