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A SHORT HISTORY
In 1947, Rabbi Emile Leipziger of Touro Synagogue asked Zolly Levin to activate a B'nai B'rith Hillel Counselorship for Tulane University students. Zolly accepted the part time position as Counselor. He was given a budget of $1,500 for programming and his remuneration.
At first, the students met in Temple Sinai. Later on, they met in theJewish Community Center which at that time was located in the old Jewish Children's Home on the corner of St. Charles and Jefferson Avenues. It was a very successful Counselorship. Zolly remained as Advisor to the Counselorship for 13 years.
Label Katz of New Orleans was President of B'nai B'rith International from 1959 through 1965. During his tenure, he convinced National B'nai B'rith Hillel to elevate the Counselorship to a full time B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation. At the same time, he made an agreement with the New Orleans Jewish community, through the Jewish Federation, to provide one third of the Foundation's budget while National provided two thirds of the budget, including the salary of a full time Director.
Fortunately, National was able to recruit Esther Taubenhaus as the first full time Director. Ms Taubenhaus had recently retired (after 35 years) as the very successful Hillel Director at Texas A & M. It was during her directorship that a group of local citizens purchased the building at 912 Broadway as a permanent home for Hillel. The upper floor was rented to Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority while they occupied the ground floor. A local businessman dubbed this "basement Judaism". This arrangement changed when the sorority moved out. Hillel moved upstairs and the downstairs was rented out to students. The move upstairs gave Hillel kitchen facilities which made it possible to prepare and serve meals. They had Shabbat services and meals. Seymour Malkin, a member of the Archibald Marx Lodge, built a portable ark for the Torah. He also built one for the Hillel founded on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge. For many years, Hillel conducted an interfaith seder which was held at the Catholic center. With the move upstairs, they were now able to hold the seder at Hillel House. Next followed a kosher meal plan which was also successful. The move upstairs increased programming possibilities and made Hillel House a hangout for some students. Hillel now found that the kitchen was too primitive to do all thecooking they the were doing. Fortunately, at this point in time, the B'nai B'rith lodges in New Orleans began raising money through a bingo game program. A very large percentage of the funds raised were donated to the New Orleans Hillel Foundation for renovation of the kitchen first and then the rest of the upstairs space. It was now suitable for large groups.
As more students attended programming, more space was needed. The ground floor was remodeled with bingo funds. The front part became a synagogue, game room and library while the back became a modern, rental, student apartment. The Advisors/Directors of Hillel following Zolly Levin and Esther Taubenhaus were Rabbis Bloomstone, Krause, Hillel Fine, Lewry, Karz-Wagmann and Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner. In 2002, Paige Nathan assumed the position of Executive Director. Currently, Cantor Seth Warner of Touro Syngagogue, serves as Judaic Program Director and Hillel also has a close relationship the rabbis and cantors in the New Orleans Jewish Community. Diane Franco serves as President of the Hillel Board along with Carol Wise and Shea Soll as Vice Presidents. Under the guidance of Hillel staff and board
of directors, Hillel in New Orleans continues to grow and is extremely
active and successful. National B'nai B'rith spun off the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation in the early '90's. It is now known as National Hillel Foundation. Today, funding comes from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, the National Hillel Foundation and the fund raising efforts of the Hillel Foundation of New Orleans. Stanley Schwam |