The badkhn (Yiddish, plural badkhonim or badkhones; "jester," "entertainer"; from Aramaic bedaḥ, "be happy") is a professional or semiprofessional entertainer who appears at certain parties and festivities, particularly at weddings. The tradition of the badkhn arose in the 16th century in Eastern Europe, where it also enjoyed its heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries. From the 18th century, it spread to Palestine with the emigration of Jews from Russia, and the waves of emigration a century later also took it to North…