A Clown, a Kid and a Rabbi (and Cancer)
I officiated a marriage at an assisted living facility in the morning and was the guest of honor at a bat mitzvah in the Bronx that night.
What’s unique about a bat mitzvah in the Bronx? It was for a child I visited as the supervising clown doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering for 5 years.
Then one day, you just don’t see them anymore.
Like so many of the families we work with, we do what we can to bring joy and delight amidst the suffering of illness. Then one day, you just don’t see them anymore.
5 years have passed since I’ve seen this family. Then I get an email inviting me to a Bat Mitzvah. Well if the MTA can get me there, bring. it. on.
I completed my friends’ nuptials before booking it to the nearest D in Brooklyn. I would only make it in time for my surprise entrance if I changed on the subway. Channeling my inner drag queen, I beat my face on the train. MAC Foundation applied in Brooklyn. Bold eyebrows in Manhattan. A strong white lip crossing into the Bronx. The final piece, my petite red nose, I glued to my face in the freezing cold of the subway platform before schlepping in a mad dash to the venue.
5 years have passed since I’ve seen this family. Then I get an email inviting me to a Bat Mitzvah. Well if the MTA can get me there, bring. it. on.
When we danced the Hora that night, I celebrated every child, every family I had the honor to serve, every path crossed, every story whose ending I didn’t get to witness.
There are many stories for which I don’t know the ending…but I’ll never forget the day that started with a wedding in a nursing home and ended as the clown doctor guest of honor at a bat mitzvah of a cancer survivor in the Bronx. Only in NYC, right?
