 | Max (center) with Abigail Axel (Rice) and Bryan LeBouf (UH) at Houston Hillel's Welcome Back BBQ.
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Student Spotlight - Max Bricker
Max, a Rice University sophomore from New York City, is majoring in Psychology and Visual & Dramatic Arts. After spending this past summer studying Hebrew in Israel, Max is the driving force behind Rice's Hebrew Table, which meets every Monday during lunch and provides students and professors an opportunity to practice their Hebrew skills.
Max is also a member of Houston Hillel's Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff team. Max writes,
"When I started college last year, it was a shaky transition. I was in a new state where I didn't know anyone, and finding people who shared my interests was a challenge. But at Hillel, I never had to worry about that. There, I met people who had also been to Jewish summer camp. I met people who eat latkes in December instead of honey-glazed ham, who had gone swimming in the Dead Sea and shopping on Ben Yehuda Street -- all things I could relate to. And beyond our shared experiences, there were the shared values: keeping kosher, Friday night dinners, visiting Israel, etc.
Being at a school like Rice, where the Jewish population is negligible and there seem to be more Christian groups than classes, keeping in touch with your Jewish identity isn't easy. But Hillel gave me a place to meet and spend time with people who were so similar to me. Hillel became -- and still is -- essential to preserving my Jewish identity in my college years."
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Join Houston Hillel for these
not-just-for-students events
"A Matter of Size" Rice Cinema, Wednesday Oct. 26 at 7:30 pmFed up with dieting, four friends start a sumo wrestling club, and in the process learn to accept themselves. A hilarious comedy - winner of 3 Israeli Oscars! Click here for the movie trailer
Daniel Greene
"The Jewish Origins of an American Idea"
The Menorah Association and Cultural Pluralism
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Benji Lovitt
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Houston Hillel, Thursday Oct. 27 at 7:00 pm Dr. Greene, VP for Research at the Newberry Library, will speak about his recent research into the Menorah Association, one aspect of which, the Menorah Society, appeared on 80 campuses in the early 20th century. The Menorah Society was Rice's precursor to Hillel and existed on the Rice campus from 1916 to 1940. Hillel's popularity came from its interest in the diversity of Jewish campus life, while the Menorah Societies were more focused on academic study groups and eschewed social functions. After the decline of the Menorah Societies the Menorah Association focused its work on advocating for Jewish Studies in secular, non-seminary institutions of higher learning. Presented in conjunction with the University of Houston Jewish Studies Initiative, UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and the El Paso Corp. Lecture Series.
Comedian Benji Lovitt Houston Hillel, Friday Nov. 4 at 6:30 pm
Lovitt headlines Houston Hillel's Shabbat 118 - our largest Shabbat of the year. Join students, twentysomethings and members of the community for a hilarious evening of stand up comedy. Sponsored by Ellen and Richard Lowe in celebration of Ellen's 66th birthday.
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 | | David Eagleman, far right, speaks with Baylor Med students. |
Campus Lunches
Free lunches attract Jewish students for speakers and socializing
Sometimes it's a crazy schedule. UH lunches every Tuesday, Rice lunches every Wednesday, Baylor College of Medicine every third Monday, and a few times each semester at South Texas College of Law and TSU Law School.
Whether it's a speaker such as Baylor Med Professor David Eagleman or just an opportunity for Jewish students to hang with other Jewish students, Houston Hillel creates community on more than a dozen campuses throughout Houston.
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 | | Joel Chasnoff |
Save the Date!
Houston Hillel Comedy Night
with Joel Chasnoff
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Hillel Student Center
Joel Chasnoff, known for intelligent humor informed by positive experiences of Jewish life, has stage and screen credits in eight countries and wrote a 2010 comic memoir, "The 188th Crybaby Brigade." More details to come!
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The Hillel Student Center long ago....
Thank you to Melissa Kean, Rice University's Centennial Historian, for posting the picture on the right in her blog, "Rice History Corner" (in her July 29 post). Click on the picture to open it in your browser, and click it again to enlarge it. Then, look in the upper right quadrant. Find the prominent curved street - that's Sunset, at the southwest corner of the Congregation Emanu El property. Follow the curve north and it turns into Mandell St. (you can clearly see the median that's still there). Make a left at the next street - Bissonnet. You'll pass Cherokee St. on the left and then arrive at Dunlavy, on the right going north. The northwest corner of Bissonnet and Dunlavy - in this 1928 photo an empty lot - is where the Hillel Student Center is now located!
Melissa's blog is a wonderful treasure for Rice alumni or anyone who is curious about Rice University history. When you visit her blog, there's an option to subscribe so that you'll receive every new post via email.
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Houston Hillel
Ida & William Zinn Building 1700 Bissonnet Houston, TX 77005
Houston Hillel enriches the lies of Jewish undergraduate students, graduate students and young professionals so that they may enrich the Houston Jewish community, the Jewish people and the world.
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