2020 Humor First Prize: "Jesus's Bar Mitzvah Speech" by Jon Shorr

by Bacopa Literary Review 2020 Humor Editor, Stephanie Seguin

When I set out to select humor pieces for this year's issue, I had very little idea what sort of pieces would turn up. Humor means such a wide variety of things and is so different for many. I wanted something that made me laugh, certainly, but also I wanted writing that felt crafted, clever.

I chose Jon Shorr's "Jesus's Bar Mitzvah Speech" for first prize because it fit both those criteria. I laughed out loud at the images of Jesus's family and friends sitting through the lengthy ritual. 

And the people in the temple listened to Jesus, except for Mrs. Silverblatt who was upset with her son for wearing non-matching sandals. . .

As a girl raised Catholic, I have long been amused by thoughts of Jesus enduring the more mundane and tedious aspects of life on earth, particularly adolescence. Did Jesus have acne? Homework? Was he scolded for not finishing chores?

For me, humor is often found in small, well-chosen details. What made this piece a standout were details like Mrs. Silverblatt upset about her son's sandal choices and also Jesus relating to his selected Torah parsha with bits of his home life.

I can really relate to this parsha because sometimes my mom and my (air quotes) "dad" want me to do stuff, and I'm like, so if I do this stuff, will you let me go over the Jude's house and play, and they say ok, so I do it, but then they're like "it's getting dark" . . .

Jon Shorr captured my imagination with Jesus taking part in this adolescent rite of growing up that so many have experienced, right down to waiting for the food spread after.

And the multitudes dispersed, some to the Ahazariah and Peninah Plotnik multipurpose room for luncheon and others to the Nazareth Tech-Mt. Tabor game.

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Jon Shorr is a retired college professor whose creative nonfiction and journalism have been published in magazines, literary journals, and anthologies, including JMORE Living, Tricycle, Passager, Pangyrus, Stories That Need to Be Told, and The Inquisitive Eater.

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  Read Jon Shorr's "Jesus's Bar Mitzvah Speech" on pages 19-21,
as well as other engaging works of Humor, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction,
Poetry, and Short-Short in Bacopa Literary Review 2020

Bacopa Literary Review 2020 Prize Winners

2020 FICTION PRIZES (Editor James Singer III)

First Prize ($300): James D'Angelo, "Proxy" 

Second Prize ($100): Siamak Vossoughi, "Junk"

2020 SHORT-SHORT PRIZES (Editor Kaye Linden)

First Prize ($300): Sarina Bosco, "An interval of time just before the onset"

Second Prize ($100): Joshua Jones, "Remember the Mayflies"

2020 CREATIVE NONFICTION PRIZES (Editor Mary Bast)  

First Prize ($300): Virginia Boudreau, "Grass"

Second Prize ($100): Rachel Amegatcher, "What Nightmare is This?"

2020 POETRY PRIZES (Editor J.N. Fishhawk)

First Prize ($300): Caitlin Cacciatore, "Sacrament"

Second Prize ($100): Patrick Cabello Hansel, "First Snowfall on 18th Avenue"

2020 HUMOR PRIZES (Editor Stephanie Seguin)

First Prize ($300): Jon Shorr, "Jesus's Bar Mitzvah Speech"

Second Prize ($100): Cadence Mandybura, "Notes from the Editors on Orange is the Darkest Color"