Founded in 2002, Simchat Halev is an organization that trains professional clowns to be specially prepared to volunteer in sensitive medical and therapeutic environments throughout Israel. It aims to provide aid, support, encouragement, happiness, and love for adults and children in emotional distress, with a special emphasis on patients suffering from serious and chronic illness, terror victims, and the terminally ill. Simchat Halev also strives to give emotional and moral support in various treatment settings: therapy centers, special education schools, nursing homes, and hospitals. The organization not only trains clowns, but it provides financial assistance for transportation and equipment, courses for medical personnel, equipment, and an academic course for teens to learn the basic concept and principles of medical clowning and then volunteer.