The ADL created Kulanu as an organization dedicated to empowering congregations to address antisemitism and hate in their communities through education, community engagement, and advocacy.

Join us at Congregation Beth Yeshurun for a series this spring to raise awareness and highlight resources available to combat antisemitism when we are confronted with antisemitism.  Our speakers will be followed by Q&A.

Monday, February 12  | 7:00pm  | Freedman Levit Sanctuary

Antisemitism on Campus

Opening remarks by Mark Toubin, Regional Director of ADL Southwest

Rabbi Stephanie Max, Executive Director of University of Texas Hillel; Rabbi Jonathan Siger, Rabbi at Hillel Texas A&M University; and Rabbi Kenny Weiss, Executive Director of Houston Hillel

Programs are free and open to the community, but please register so we know how many to expect

More about our speakers:

Rabbi Stephanie Max joined the Texas Hillel family in late July 2023. Born in Dallas and raised in Rochester, New York, Rabbi Max has a love for hot summers and snowy winters – but she’ll survive without the latter.

Rabbi Max has served as the Associate Director at Brandeis Hillel for the past five years, working alongside students and staff to transform the organization, growing student engagement and programming, strengthening university partnerships, expanding the professional staff, and launching new program initiatives. She recently participated in fellowships with the Avodah Institute for Social Change and the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Rabbi Max previously served as Associate Director & Director of Content for Convergence on Campus, Program Director of the Interfaith Youth Initiative, and Rabbinic Fellow at Tufts Hillel. Rabbi Max received ordination in 2019 from Hebrew College.

During rabbinical school, she spent two years in Israel, studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, Pardes, the Shalom Hartman Institute, and BINA, where she also taught in their post-college program. Rabbi Max holds a BA in Sociocultural Anthropology and Hispanic Language and Literature from Boston University.

Prior to attending rabbinical school, Rabbi Max was a chef in Boston, Austin, and Upstate New York. She is always happy to share recipes and stories! Rabbi Max and her husband, Andrew Max, are excited to get to know the Austin Jewish community. Andrew is an avid football fan and is eager to cheer on the Longhorns and help the rabbi understand what’s happening during the game.

Rabbi Jonathan Siger grew up in Northport, Long Island, New York. He is an alumnus of The Portledge School, and Brandeis University where he graduated with honors in English and American Literature and was awarded the Andrew W. Grossbardt Memorial Prize in Poetry. Rabbi Siger is a graduate of The Second City’s Conservatory of Improvisation in Chicago,  where he worked as an assistant producer for the famed comedy theater.

He received his Masters Degree and later his Rabbinical Ordination from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 2002 and is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, representing the Reform movement. As a student, the pulpits he served were geographically diverse, from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Brunswick, Georgia.

Jonathan spent several years as the Campus Rabbi for Hillel at the University of Florida in Gainesville and then was named Executive Director of Central Florida Hillel, serving the largest undergraduate Jewish population in the country.  In 2010, he and his family moved to the suburbs of Houston.

In addition to his responsibilities as the spiritual leader of Congregation Jewish Community North in Spring, Texas, Rabbi Siger serves as a Lead Patrol and Special Operations Chaplain for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and as National Chaplain for the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

Rabbi Kenny Weiss is the Executive Director of Houston Hillel and a lecturer in Jewish Studies at the University of Houston. He is married to Rabbi Amy Weiss, Founder and Executive Director of Undies for Everyone. They have two sons who feel pride that both of their parents are rabbis.