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*The Yiddish word for “clown” is “lets,” “leytsim” or “letsonem.”
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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Clowns can be “leibidik”--festive. A clown is the familiar “komiker” (comic) character of pantomime and “tsirk” (circus), known by his distinctive makeup and “kostyum” (costume), ludicrous antics and buffoonery, whose purpose is to induce hearty “gelekhter” (laughter). He usually performs a set routine characterized by broad, graphic humor, absurd situations, and vigorous physical action.
“Shtick”/shtik” is slang for “a show business routine or piece of business inserted to gain a “lakhn” (laugh) or draw attention to oneself.
The Urban Dictionary describes a “Jew clown” as follows:
An article by Hope Reeves in The New York Times Magazine (“Fooling Around,” June 22, 2014) states that if you wish to date a total Bozo, you should try “clowndating.com,” a website dedicated to uniting the typically down-on-their-luck entertainers. Reeves writes, “According to the site’s mission statement, clowns are often feared and hated, which makes finding the right person a real challenge.” “It’s no fun looking for love when you’re a clown,” they write. “Behind all the makeup and the red nose is a lonely heart.”
The website states that “Being on the road all the time can make it hard to find someone close by but with members from towns and cities all over the world, hooking up has never been easier. Join the clown community today.”
Q. Could clowns one day replace painkillers and epidurals in hospital procedures?
A. Israel’s medical clowning community thinks so.
Israel’s medical clowning program is one of the best in “di velt” (the world). With nearly 100 medical clowns already working in anything from children’s wards to IVF clinics and delivery rooms, Israel’s goal is to create a global model for clowning therapy.
Research coming out of the country suggests that medical clowning--where clowns visit patients undergoing procedures in hospitals to help them relax--could one day transform (“ibermakhn”) medicine.
Are there any “frum” (pious, devout) clowns? Yes. YoYo, the Jewish clown! Yehuda Braunstein always knew he wanted to be a clown. No, not “der klas” (the class) clown--who makes trouble in school--but an actual clown.
As a kid, he went to Ringling Bros. circus. Even though he studied to be a mathematician at MIT and earned a doctorate at UC, San Diego, he also became religiously observant--a ba’al teshuvah, through Chabad.
He’s one of the world’s few “frum” clowns and looks like a religious clown in nerd’s clothing. In his civvies, he has a long, scraggly “bord” (beard) with errant strands of grey. He puts his roly-poly body into a short-sleeved, checked engineer shirt.
When he becomes YoYo, he dons a wig, a nose, and full costume. He might roll up his beard and paint it to match his wig.
His rabbi told him NOT to do magic tricks--only God can do magic. So, he does balloon-making, face painting, bubble-blowing and parachute games.
Now divorced, he performs about once a month at “geboyrn-tog” (birthday) parties, upfsherin (cutting of the hair at age 3), weddings and shul events, especially at Chanukah and Purim. “I help everyone become more ‘leibedik,’” he said, using the Yiddish word for festive.
FYI: YoYo The Clown is based in Los Angeles, California.
Avraham Landau is another Jewish clown. Avraham was born in N. Y., but took to the land of Israel like a fish in to the water. After two years, he returned to the States. He found out about a clown organization called “Down Alley.” He also found a clown course in of all places, Williamsburgh, the ultra-orthodox section of Brooklyn.
He began doing fairs, children’s parties, weddings, visits to nursing homes and street festivals. He again returned to Israel--to Jerusalem-- and found that Israelis were very receptive to his clown shows. Israelis were clown starved; they had a difficult life and never had “der luksus” (the luxury) of seeing a clown. They would call him “latzon latzon,” meaning “clown, clown.”
Today, Avraham is married and lives with his wife in a suburb of Jerusalem. (Source: The Jewish Magazine)
Many Jewish hospitals have volunteers who come to cheer the patients. Hospital clowns are popular in Israel. To erase the psychological trauma of children, clowns visit hospitals on a regular basis, giving the “yung” (young) patients a chance to smile and “lakhn” (laugh).
Congregant, Michael Getlan, brought the mitzvah of “Caring Clowning” to Temple Israel, located in New Rochelle, New York. He fulfills the mitzvah of “bikur cholim,” visiting the sick, in a “freydik” (joyful) way. The Smiling Hearts Clown Squad is a group of volunteer clowns and entertainers that perform for patients and their families at hospitals and nursing homes in Westchester County.
Clowns Without Borders
There are tens of hospital clown organizations around the world. The
“clown doctor” family are artists visiting children in highly decorated attire,
resembling a REAL DOCTOR, often using medical instruments in a
humorous way and making references to hospital procedures.
And, finally, in Israel, clowns are even called-in during invasive medical
procedures. Clowns have proven as effective as a sedative in helping
to relax patients.
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MARJORIE WOLFE has memorized the lyrics to the song, “Be a Clown,”
written by Cole Porter:
Be a clown, be a clown
All the world loves a clown
Act the fool, play the calf
And you’ll always have the last laugh.
...Dress in huge baggy pants
and you’ll ride the road to romance
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