Clowns

Cara Nachshon: The grandma with a red nose in her pocket

“I think I’ve always been a clown. It’s always been inside me. But I finally did the course that entitled me to put on a red nose. At 58, it was the right time in my life to do it.”

OCTOBER 10, 2026|ByABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

CARA & TONY NACHSHON surrounded by their children at a family dinner.

Shorty, at left, is part of a thriving community of medical clowns in Israel.

This clown eats bubbles, cracks jokes to help Israeli children recover from trauma

Israel is a global leader in medical clowning, a field that has grown in need since Oct. 7.

JULY 17, 2026|ByDEBORAH DANAN/JTA

Channah Appel trained to become a medical clown under the name of Channa Banana, inspired by the movie ‘Patch Adams.’

Clowning, caring, and claiming her voice: How Jerusalemite Channah Appel is making a difference

Channah Appel is using compassion, community initiatives, and quiet determination to make her mark in Israel.

APRIL 26, 2026|ByALAN ROSENBAUM

IDF PARATROOPER Menahem Ben-Halifa – from wounded soldier to medical clown.

This is how medical clowns are helping treat post-Oct. 7 trauma

Medical clowning benefits anyone who has undergone psychological trauma – especially the kind that has caused havoc among the survivors of October 7.

OCTOBER 17, 2024|ByJUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

In a one-‘clown’ Off Broadway show, an actor takes the stigma out of mental illness

The New York Jewish Week talked with Ehrenpreis, 45, to hear about why this feels like the right time to tell his story, what he sees in clowns, and what he hopes audiences get out of the play.

JULY 12, 2024ByCHAVA PEARL LANSKY/JTA

A collection of clown figurines is part of the backdrop for “Clowns Like Me,” Scott Ehrenpreis’ autobiographical one-man show.

Medical clowns: Israel's Dream Doctors use therapeutic clowning for evacuees

Dream Doctors’ innovative therapeutic clowning techniques lift the spirits of traumatized evacuees.

JUNE 1, 2024ByPATRICIA GOLAN

Despite the silly nose and goofy costume, medical clowning is no joke.

Making soldiers smile: The reservists who make it their mission to help mental recovery

Meet Dush and Jonam, two medical clowns enlisted in the Home Front Rehabilitation Center, where soldiers in need of long-term mental health care are sent.

MARCH 9, 2024ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

David (Dosh) (R) and Keren (Jonam) (L), medical clowns working at the Home Front Rehabilitation Center.

This woman moved to Jerusalem and clowns around at hospitals

Leah Yerushalmi uses puns, word games, quizzes, and inventive stories – each week on a different theme – to distract the patients from their worries and pain.

AUGUST 26, 2023ByYEHUDIT RESNICK

VOLUNTEERING RECENTLY as a medical clown, ‘Lulu K’ELu,’ at Hadassah University Medical Center, Mt. Scopus.

In their classroom, Torah is a three-ring circus - by design

Traditional yeshiva-style learning emphasizes that there are as many ways to understand the Bible as there are clowns in a tiny car, and Sacred Arts aims to uncover a few more.

JUNE 26, 2023ByANDREW SILOW-CARROLL / JTA