August 1, 2012 | 7:00 am

Laughter is Sometimes the Best Medicine

Posted by Rabbi John Rosove

Follow JewishJournal.com on

On the occasion of his son’s bar mitzvah a father offered this blessing concerning the importance of laughter as an agent in healing the world of its cruelty and injustice:

“Let your laughter be world-enveloping; a tonic against the pompous and the proud; a slingshot in the bully’s eye. Let it poke glorious holes in the narrow-minded zealotry of fanatics and extremists and absolutist goons who want the world to subscribe to their small-minded views regardless of the human lives it costs. Let your humor be a form of tikun olam, healing of the world.”  (Barry Smolin to Milo – June 9, 2007)

Media Line News posted this video today covering an international conference of clowns in Haifa, Israel who use humor, parody, silliness, and other techniques to lift the hearts of children and their families burdened by illness. It is an uplifting story.

VIDEO:  LAUGHTER — PROVEN TO BE THE BEST MEDICINE —http://media.themedialine.org/media/120724_clown.wmv

Here are some worthwhile quotes concerning pain, laughter, silliness, joy, and service to others:

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.” (Anne Lamott, writer)

“The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.” (Anais Nin, writer)

“Finding true joy is the hardest of all spiritual tasks. If the only way to make yourself happy is by doing something silly, do it.” (Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav)

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” (Rabindranath Tagore, philosopher, writer, composer, painter, Nobel laureate)