Jewish Women’s Circle gala to focus on healing power of laughter
By: BETTY NELANDER
Palm Beach Daily News
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Esther Rachel Russell's improvisational comedy career began at the famous Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, the speaker, educator, laughter therapist, and CEO of Joy Breaks Barriers Coaching and Training Workshops, will address the Jewish Women's Circle annual gala at The Chesterfield. |
An upcoming gala will give everyone food for thought and have them going home feeling good, said Rebbetzin Hindel Levitin, program director at Chabad of Northern Palm Beach Island.
The Healing Power of Laughter will be the theme of the The Jewish Women’s Circle of Palm Beach annual gala at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, at The Chesterfield, 363 Cocoanut Row. It is open to all Jewish women.
Speaker, educator and “laughter therapist” Esther Rachel Russell will keynote the evening. Russell is CEO of Joy Breaks Barriers Coaching and Training Workshops. She has traveled extensively and lives in New Haven, Conn., with her husband and five children.
Her improvisational comedy career began at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, where she wrote and performed in comedy sketches. She is founder and artistic director of the all-female comedy improv troupe Women Gone Mad. Recently, she performed in the acclaimed off-Broadway comedy, “A Match Made in Manhattan: the Interactive Jewish Wedding Experience,” where she played the role of Rivky Lowenstein, mother of the bride. She earned a master’s degree in theater from New York University. She left the glitter of Hollywood and traveled through India and Israel before settling into her life as a Chassidic wife and mother.
The gala also will feature a silent auction, hors d’oeuvres and dinner.
“We had a lot of different kinds of speakers, including a lot of different topics in Judaism,” said Levitin. “But one thing we never actually addressed that we thought would be different is about joy and laughter, a laughter workshop, which is actually a very Jewish concept. Part of serving God is serving God with joy."
Committee members include Levitin, Ruthie Friedman, Helen Marr, Barbara Mehl, Sofia Sapojnikova, Debbie Stahl and Eliza Tizabgar.
The event is a project of The Chabad House.
For reservations, call 659-3884, visit palmbeachjewish.com/jwc or or email [email protected].