F TAY-SACHS
R F R E E E E
H eadlines
that a part of our everyday life
now so that it feels very natural
when they come into the
world, and they don’t have to
question their identity as biracial
Ashkenazi Jewish children,”
Graham-Moskowitz said.

All of their celebrations will
be virtual this year, and the
couple will be home with their
puppy, Brisket.

Although the pandemic has
put a damper on many beloved
traditions, the 2020 holiday
season also offers a historic
reason to celebrate. Some inter-
faith couples are excited about
the ascendance of Vice President-
elect Kamala Harris and her
husband Doug Emhoff next year.

Harris was raised Christian and
Hindu, and Emhoff is Jewish, as
are his children.

Abrams hopes the couple’s
visibility and success will
encourage more conserva-
tive Jewish communities to
be open-minded and inclu-
sive toward interfaith couples.

Nicolai, who broke up with her
husband over faith differences
before they worked through them
with a counselor, hopes interfaith
couples look to the second family
as a source of inspiration.

“I do love that someone in an
interfaith relationship is now
going to be part of the White
House,” she said. “I know a lot
of interfaith couples that have
broken up, but seeing someone
in a position of power making
it work is really powerful.”
Rabbi Elyssa Cherney, Rukin
Rabbinic Fellow at 18Doors
in Philadelphia, thinks that
the couple’s prominence will
help interfaith couples feel less
isolated. Some of the people
she works with don’t have any
family or friends in interfaith
relationships, and representa-
tion matters.

“I think that this couple
being a part of mainstream
media and, I hope, being
looked at in a good light will
just normalize that experience
for so many people,” she said. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Copperfield
Continued from Page 1
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, Steven Spielberg and
Irving Berlin.

“We are thrilled and grateful
to be able to induct Harry
Houdini and David Copperfield
into Only in America at the same
time,” NMAJH trustee and gala
chair Sharon Tobin Kestenbaum
said in a statement. “With this
event, we are able to celebrate
a cross-generational story. From
immigrant Harry Houdini to
first-generation American David
Copperfield, this event clearly
demonstrates what’s possible
when individuals are simply
given the chance to be great.”
The induction will include
remarks by 2019 Academy
of Magical Arts winners
Lucy Darling and Asi Wind
and descendants of Houdini.

Darling is more well-known as
“The Mistress of Magic”; Wind,
once voted “Best Magician in
Israel,” was born in Tel Aviv.

Copperfield, whose previous
honors include 21 Emmy
Awards, 11 Guinness World
Records and the Living Legend
honor from The Library of
Congress, will accept the award
and perform illusions from his
International Museum and
Library of the Conjuring Arts
in Las Vegas.

It’s an appropriate venue
for accepting such an award.

Copperfield’s library houses
the world’s largest collec-
tion of historically significant
magic memorabilia, posters,
books, props and artifacts,
and even boasts tricks that
belonged to Houdini himself:
the Water Torture Cell and the
Metamorphosis Trunk.

Copperfield himself will
induct Houdini into the NMAJH
Hall of Fame. Copperfield, who
was born David Seth Kotkin,
has always felt a connection to
Houdini, born Erik Weisz, on the
basis of their shared Jewishness
and excitement about the possi-
bilities of magic. If the United
States provided a feeling for Jews
that they could make what they
some blamed on those
dastardly magicians.

“Somebody said in
their story that there
was a magic chemical
that somebody mistak-
enly dumped into the air
conditioning system,”
Copperfield remembered
with a chuckle. “And
maybe the magicians were
to blame for this horrible
thing that took place.”
Copperfield and
Houdini will be the 22nd
and 23rd inductees into
David Copperfield will be inducted into
the National Museum of American Jewish the hall of fame, joining
History’s Ed Snider Only in America
Ginsburg, Spielberg, Berlin,
Gallery/Hall of Fame.

Leonard Bernstein, Louis
Courtesy of DCDI
Brandeis, Albert Einstein,
Gertrude Elion, Mordecai
imagine into reality, Copperfield Kaplan, Sandy Koufax, Estée
said, then magic done well can Lauder,
Emma Lazarus,
do the same for anyone.

Isaac Leeser, Golda Meir,
“Magic is about making Julius Rosenwald, Jonas Salk,
people dream,” Copperfield Menachem Mendel Schneerson,
said. “It was never about, for Rose Schneiderman, Isaac
me, fooling people, or amazing Bashevis
Singer, Barbra
people. It was always about Streisand, Henrietta Szold and
showing limitless possibili- Isaac Mayer Wise.

ties, showing that you can do
The virtual event, which is
amazing things. You can go free and open to the public,
beyond the lot that you’re given.” will serve as NMAJH’s annual
Copperfield’s mother was gala and brings to a close a
born in Israel, and his father’s difficult year for the museum.

parents were born in Russia;
In March, just prior to the
today, he is perhaps the most beginning of the pandemic,
well-known living magician in the museum filed for Chapter
the world.

11 bankruptcy. At the time,
“David Copperfield cares
deeply about the history of
his craft — his desire to know
and preserve that history is
something that resonates
strongly with us as a history
museum,” NMAJH CEO Misha
Galperin said. “Museums and
magic actually have a lot in
common — they are about
storytelling at their core,
and are designed to intrigue,
inspire and spark wonder.”
Copperfield has previous
connections to Philadelphia.

Aside from numerous
appearances on stage, he
recalls visiting the Bellevue-
Stratford Hotel as a young man
for a magic convention. One
year later, he recalled, the hotel
suffered its famous outbreak
of Legionnaires’ disease, which
JEWISH EXPONENT
& & TAY-SACHS
CANAVAN CANAVAN
SCREENING SCREENING
CALL (215) 887-0877
FOR DETAILS
e-mail: ntsad@aol.com;
visit: www.tay-sachs.org
■ Screening for other
Jewish Genetic Diseases
also available.

This message is sponsored by a friend of
Nat’l Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases
Association of Delaware Valley
the museum reportedly owed
more than $30 million to
bondholders and about $1
million to unsecured creditors.

The filing subsequently made
NMAJH ineligible to apply for
Paycheck Protection Program
loans as they were made avail-
able by the CARES Act. In May,
two-thirds of the museum staff
were furloughed. Bankruptcy
hearings are reportedly set for
later this month.

“Only in America: Houdini
and Copperfield” will be live-
streamed on Dec. 12 at 8 p.m.

on YouTube, Facebook and at
nmajh.org. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
DECEMBER 10, 2020
15