(Jewish Group) What, Jews worry? (This is a light-hearted story)

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Which is precisely why I visited one of my favorite spots in the Berkshires: The Norman Rockwell Museum. I have been there many times, always enjoying the Norman Rockwell illustrations and “Saturday Evening Post” covers, always appreciating the subtle and often undetected artistry in his work and enjoying a diversionary excursion into a vanished America.

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I am referring to their current exhibit: “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine.”

“Mad” magazine was an essential part of my childhood and early adolescence. For some reason, my parents thought it was far more acceptable than my previous steady diet of “Superman” and “Batman” comics.

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“Mad” magazine was a piece of modern, secular Jewish literature — almost up there with Philip Roth. Its spirit survives in such writers as Shalom Auslander, who brings his own sardonic vision into his writing. It survived in numerous cultural inheritors, such as the movie “Airplane” and any number of very silly movies and television shows.



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