Medical clowning is love. So I was taught.

Medical clowning means entering a space flooded with concern and trepidation, heavy with the foreign odors of disinfectants and medications. It’s performed in places where everyone except local staff exists outside their comfort zone—where people are forced to relinquish some or all autonomous control over their bodies and lives, placing it in the hands of strangers in green scrubs and white lab coats. Medical clowns bring color, sound, and playfulness into rooms that seem the antithesis of where such things belong, virtually transporting people to a parallel universe, even if only for a few precious minutes.

I earned my red nose in 2011 under the tutelage of a master: Prof Chimichuri (aka Alex Gruber). Living nearly an hour from the closest hospitals, I didn’t clown often, but I treasured each opportunity. Most of my clowning took place at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center, alongside a sweet clown-soulmate named Sarit. The last time I went, before our world shattered, was just before Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish New Year—in September 2023.

And then October 7th happened.

Traumatized. Uprooted. Mourning so many losses. So many friends and neighbors stolen to Gaza as hostages.

I could find no way to put on the red nose. People tried to convince me, saying that by not doing it, terror would win.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)