Up Front
Clowning Around
A rabbi's wife likes putting smiles on faces.
JONATHAN GOLD
Special to The Jewish News
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provided the angle they were looking
for in life. According to Finman, it
was during that period in the '70s
when the country was in turmoil over
Vietnam and Watergate and people
were going to gurus for spiritual guid-
ance that the Finman siblings became
Orthodox.
Her parents are therapists in the
Philadelphia area.
Finman feels that being "Annabell
Finman" — her stage name — and
being a rabbi's wife does not conflict.
IV Nether she's performing
for battered women at
the Haven or children
of Russian immigrants
at the Oak Park JCC, Chana Finman
uses the arts to touch lives on a regu-
lar basis.
Finman, the wife of Rabbi
Herschel Finman, plays myriad roles,
among them freelance clown. She
works it into a schedule
that includes raising
seven children who
range in age from 1 1/2
to 13, and dispensing
advice to people in the
community.
"Since I was a kid, I
have been immersed in
dance and the arts,"
Finman said. "A friend's
father was the music
critic at the
Philadelphia Exponent,
so we got tickets to
everything."
One night she had
front-row seats to see
Marcel Marceau. "I was
so close I could feel his
sweat," Finman said.
The experience was a
defining moment for
her.
Judaism also took
center stage in Finman's
life during her teen-age
years.
"I grew up in a secu-
lar, academic house-
hold, listening to the
Doors and being a part Chana Finman, a.k.a Annabelh entertains at the JCC.
of the radical '70s,"
Finman said. There
were no religious Jews where Finman
In fact, she finds it an asset.
lived. Later, the family underwent a
"I've been working in outreach for
metamorphosis.
over 20 years. This is something that
"My two older brothers and I
helps me do what I can to help oth-
looked at what was going on in soci-
ers. My goal isn't just entertainment."
ety and realized that the only way to
Her clowning, which she enhances
get any sense of emes (truth) was to
with music — Finman plays guitar
delve into Judaism." The three, after
and piano — gives her an avenue to
examining the holistic and metaphysi-
share an experience and reach out to
cal aspects of Judaism, realized that it
people in emotional need. "You don't
have to impress a clown," Finman
said.
One morning, while performing at
a blood drive outside the Beverly •
Hills Racquet Club, Finman turned a
stoic face into a grin.
"I saw a man standing there with a
grim look on his face and I made him
a balloon that looked like a hum-
mingbird," Finman said. His face
changed and he began to laugh. "A
clown can touch people at many dif-
ferent levels," she said.
During a perfor-
mance at the Haven, a
young girl, in obvious
distress, began beating
up all of Finman's pup-
pets.
r5. "I didn't want to
stop her," Finman said.
'After she finished, we
kidded around a little
and she was okay."
Finman's outreach has
spanned the globe. She
has promoted the arts
from New York City to •
Southeast Asia.
After Rabbi Finman
finished kollel (gradu-
ate Jewish learning), he
had an opportunity in
Melbourne, Australia.
Off they went.
Finman continued
promoting Jewish cul-
ture and the arts. She e
organized a Jewish art
fair in Australia that
drew hundreds of non-
Jews, and she and her
husband set up a
Jewish day school in IP
Thailand that is still
functioning.
Finman sees her art
as a positive alternative to modern
technology. "We live in such a fast-
paced world," she said. "People have
phones in their cars, and go home to
their e-mail, and never give them-
selves a chance. I'm just glad that
•
being a clown, and the personal con-
tact it allows, gives me the chance to
give people a release that they can't
get from a video game or a movie." ❑
•
•