The Comedy and Magic of
Sunday, February 10, 2013 7:00 pm
Houston Hillel Student Center Ida & William Zinn Building 1700 Bissonnet
The Comedy and Magic of
Event Co-Chairs Fredi Franks
Ed Septimus
Hocus Pocus!* Ellen and Richard Lowe
Presto!*
Marlene and Bob Rubin
Voila!* Bonnie and Mark Hochstein Sandy and Richard Jackson Muriel and Marcel Meicler Karol and Daniel Musher
Janet and Jeff Pozmantier Lisa and Michael Sachs Susan and Ed Septimus Andrea Stolar and David Vener Leah Stolar and Bruce Kessler
Event Committee Sandy Jackson Beverly Levinson
Muriel Meicler Sharon Mellon
Rozanne Rubin Susan Septimus
*As of printing
Houston Hillel Board of Directors Marlene Rubin President Fredi Franks Ellen Lowe Lennie Roth David Vener Vice Presidents Sandy Jackson Secretary
Ken Arfa Eric Bishop Max Blankfeld Hannah Bosley (Rice) Eric Cohn Michael Duke Rabbi Gideon Estes Ben Gold (Baylor) Emily Jackson Matt Kahn
Beverly Levinson Marshall Levit Muriel Meicler Sharon Mellon Jeff Pozmantier Andy Priesman Rozanne Rubin Michael Sachs Richard Schechter Susan Septimus Daniella Singer (UH)
Mark Hochstein Treasurer
Houston Hillel Advisory Committee Adam Brackman Gary & Debby Cortes Marian Daum Linda Davis-Blumenfeld Dan Goldman Karol Musher
Richard Brochstein Max Goldfield z�l Lenny Holzband David Jacobson Alan Levin Daniel Musher Karol Musher Ron Nodler
Rabbi Kenny Weiss Executive Director
Esther Polland Gloria Ribnick Irene Shaw Marilyn Shaw Gary Swartz Sharla Wertheimer
Robert Zinn
Past Presidents
Tamara Marks-Moses Director of Jewish Life
Jerry Paine Daniel Pickelner Ed Septimus Immediate Past President Marilyn Shaw Larry Smith Gary Swartz Alvin Zimmerman
Barbara Dryer Administrator
Rabbi Amy Weiss Director of Food & Nutrition
The Comedy and Magic of
Harry Maurer (pronounced like “power”) is a comic magician with a quick wit and a charming personality who knows how to get people to laugh while being amazed. Las Vegas Entertainment Today described his “hysterically classy” show best when they said: “His easy manner with the audience combined with a magical skill second to none, is what the audience remembers after the curtain goes down.” With his consistently clean and entertaining shows, he was asked to join comedy legends Joey Bishop (from Sinatra’s original “Rat Pack”), Jackie Vernon and other name performers on a five month tour of the United States followed by a four month engagement in Atlantic City where the hit show sold out its nearly 2,000 seats each day! Harry never stops working and now spends an average of 47 weeks each year entertaining in casinos, comedy clubs, theaters and aboard cruise ships around the world. His diverse career includes opening for such stars as The Supremes, Rita Rudner, Ray Romano, Joey Bishop, Jason Alexander, Rich Jeni, Rosie O’Donnell, Frankie Avalon and other stars while entertaining U.S. Presidents, Celebrities and International Royalty with his fun and interactive magical style. Harry Maurer presents a show that must not be missed!
Connections
to Jewish life on Houston’s campuses take many forms. For the guys pictured to the right, Bob Livitz, Rich Abramowitz, Mark Hochstein, Dan Goldman and Ed Septimus, it means providing invaluable help with the grills during Houston Hillel’s Welcome Back BBQ. “Playing in Houston Hillel’s High Holy Day services has been a truly amazing experience for me,” Tracy Jacobson, a recent Rice graduate who majored in bassoon performance, recently wrote to Rabbi Kenny Weiss. “I’ve loved sharing my art with the Jewish community here in Houston. When I first moved here from New Jersey, the invitation from Rabbi Kenny to play at Houston Hillel was what I needed to start feeling like an active part of the Houston Jewish Community.” Also providing music for the High Holy Days was Rice freshman Maya Stokes, seated at the piano behind Tracy in the picture to the right, UH junior Hope Cowan, who played harp during Yom Kippur, and Rice senior Evan Kardon, who served as Houston Hillel’s High Holy Day soloist. Below, Houston Hillel’s Kosher Chili Cook-off team of Rosalie Berg (Rice), Abigail Axel (Rice), Jonathan Berg (Rice), Bryan LeBouf (UH) and Max Bricker (Rice) display an assortment of Houston Hillel t-shirts.
Unique Opportunities for Jewish engagement happen every day, and sometimes includes supporting Israel in the face of anti-Israel activism. University of Houston students Jesse Nagelberg, Cesar Morales and Harrison Shecter distribute flyers opposite a recent anti-Israel protest.
Houston Hillel’s weekly Shabbat dinners take place at the Hillel Student Center and, for Houston’s Jewish twentysomethings, at participants’ homes. Pictured below students enjoy dinner prior to hypnotist A.J. LaHaye’s performance, which was sponsored by Ellen and Richard Lowe. Eric Bishop, a member of Houston Hillel’s Board of Directors and an AEPi member while a student at the University of Houston in the 1990’s, commented about the AEPi and Houston Hillel, “Tonight I attended a Shabbat service and dinner with AEPi at the Houston Hillel Student Center. AEPi and Houston Hillel are two organizations that are very dear to me. AEPi is the only international Jewish Fraternity still in existence. This is a great group of young men who are still a small group at UH. Seeing the support they receive from Houston Hillel during this time will only lead to another strong Jewish group at UH and if history repeats itself, it will be mutually beneficial to both groups.” Each week Houston Hillel sponsors free lunches on at least two campuses. Pictured below left Rice students enjoy lunch on campus, and below right UH students having lunch in Houston Hillel’s Student Lounge in the UH A.D. Bruce Religion Center.
Houston’s Jewish 20somethings
find a home with Jewstontexas, Houston Hillel’s community for grad students and young professionals between the ages of 21 and 29. Jewstontexas participants enjoy monthly Shabbat dinners, regular Jews & Brews happy hours, intramural sports teams, book clubs, and various other events. The Jewstontexas website - jewstontexas.org - serves as a portal for new arrivals, while the Jewstontexas Facebook Group enables participants to keep in touch with each other and learn about Jewstontexas events and opportunities in the Houston Jewish community. Andrea Starkschall, pictured lighting the Hanukkah candles at a recent Jewstontexas Shabbat dinner she hosted at her home, writes of Jewstontexas, “After graduating college and leaving behind the built-in social support system that comes along with it, I was looking for a place to belong and a place to fit in. Jewstontexas provided me with that, and much more than I could have ever expected. I joined Jewstontexas after a very difficult time in my life and I do believe that this was part of my healing process. I have made life-long friends through the various social activities and have strengthened my Jewish identity through the educational programming. I feel a strong sense of community within Jewstontexas and I know that I always have a place where I can feel accepted and loved.” At a Baylor College of Medicine Ethics Lunch, Rachel Birney speaks about the BRAC1 gene and breast cancer. Houston Hillel’s medical and law school ethics lunches are sponsored by the Albert and Ethyl Herzstein Charitable Foundation. Below right, Rabbi Kenny Weiss enjoys dinner with recent graduates from Rice University.
Thank you to Houston Hillel’s Legacy for Tomorrow. Through your vision, planning and commitment to Jewish life on Houston’s college campuses, you ensure the future of the Houston Jewish community. Anonymous Ilyne Burke z”l Shirley & Alan Cohn Debby & Gary Cortes
Rabbi Gideon Estes Sandra Jackson Ellen & Richard Lowe Karol & Daniel Musher
Yako Nesim Polikar z”l Marlene & Bob Rubin Marilyn Shaw David Stern z”l
David Vener Louise Weinstein z”l Rabbis Amy & Kenny Weiss Edith & Bob Zinn
Why designate a legacy gift to Houston Hillel? • Houston Hillel is Houston’s only Jewish organization solely dedicated to serving Jewish college students and twentysomethings. • Houston Hillel creatively engages and empowers Jewish students through personal interactions and compelling programs. • Houston Hillel nurtures intellectual and spiritual growth in a pluralistic community. • Houston Hillel links the campus community to the Houston Jewish community. • Your Legacy Gift will provide additional support through an incentive grant provided by the Areivim Legacy Community Project and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.
Your bequest will provide for the most critical needs at the time the money is received. Or, your bequest can benefit an established endowment fund, and provide an immediate and permanent annual source of income for Houston Hillel. You can also establish a new endowment fund at this time or in the future. The Houston Hillel Edith & Bob Zinn Student Programming Fund The Holzband Hillel Programming Fund The Ernest Krautkopf Houston Hillel Special Programs Fund The Rubenstein Shabbat and Festival Meals Fund The Gloria and Jerry Ribnick Houston Hillel Passover Seder Fund
The Ben McGuire Houston Hillel Lectureship and Program Fund The Houston Hillel Student Center Fund The Beulah Axelrad Yellen (Rice ‘36) Houston Hillel Entertainment Fund The Larry Massin Sports Lounge Fund The Raymond Plotkin Memorial Scholarship Fund
For additional information and to explore the impact of a legacy gift, please contact Rabbi Kenny Weiss at 713-526-4918 or kweiss@houstonhillel.org.
Hillel
The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Mazel Tov to the entire Board and Houston Hillel on such a successful event. Andy and Elana Priesman
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Congratulations to Hillel for all the work they do for our college students.
Rabbi Jack Segal
Rabbi Emeritus Beth Yeshurun Congregation
Congratulations to a great organization Best wishes for the future Elaine and Sam Merwin
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Mazal Tov to Houston Hillel On An Evening of Magic By Congregation Emanu El Scott Hausman-Weiss, Senior Rabbi
Haran Levy, President
Congratulations to Houston Hillel and Congratulations Hillel! the achievements oftoitsHouston past presidents!
districtc@houstontx.gov • 900 Bagby, 1stFloor Floor •Houston, Houston, TX • (832)393-3004 districtc@houstontx.gov 900 Bagby, 1st TX77002 77002 (832)393-3004 Connect on: twitter, facebook, and www.ellencohen.org Connect on: twitter, facebook and www.ellencohen.org Political adv. Paid for by the Ellen Cohen Campaign, Jackie Martin, Treasurer
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Congratulations, Houston Hillel, for all your wonderful work and successes in keeping Judaism alive and current in the lives of Jewish college students and young Jewish professionals.
Barbie and Lennie Roth
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Thank you to Houston Hillel’s Student Leaders Rice University Hannah Bosley, President Abigail Axel Dani Marco Jessica Mintz Sarah Percival Bryan Solomon Baylor College of Medicine Jeff Berman
University of Houston Daniella Singer, President Nathan Colbert Bryan LeBouf Jesse Nagelberg Chaya Traxler
South Texas College of Law Albert Singer Alix Udelson Ben Aussenberg Jenn Levine Alyssa Schaffer from Rabbis Amy and Kenny Weiss
TSU Law School Simanta Ben-Ezra
Mazel tov, Houston Hillel!
Rabbi David Lyon and Congregation Beth Israel Wish You a Magical Evening and Much Success
We are proud to support Jewish life on campus and throughout Houston Houston Hillel’s Board of Directors
Mazel Tov, Houston Hillel from Rabbi Gideon Estes & Congregation Or Ami
Mazel tov to Houston Hillel on your important work with Houston’s Jewish college students.
Roger Sofer and Dan Steiner
Celebrating a legacy of Jewish student enrichment by Houston Hillel Board members
Mabel Massin z”l and Larry Massin z”l The Larry Massin Sports Lounge at the Houston Hillel Student Center Larry’s Kitchen (meat) at the Houston Hillel Student Center The Larry Massin Sports Lounge Fund
With admiration for Houston Hillel’s work with Houston’s college students, young professionals and the Houston Jewish community, Michele and Robert Goodmark