Karen Diane Katz Papers

Karen Diane Katz was born in Houston, Texas to Lawrence G. and Joan K. Katz (née Krupp) on December 25, 1956. The eldest of four children (younger brothers, Charles, Robert and Walter Katz), Karen was part of a family very active in the Jewish community. Her parents were part of the original founding membership of Congregation Brith Shalom, which initially convened in a church for weekly Shabbat services until enough funds were raised to build a new synagogue.

Karen attended Lovett Elementary, Johnston Junior High and Bellaire High School. She became a leader in the Jewish community soon after joining Reichman BBG (B’nai Brith Girls), chapter 643, one of the chapters under the umbrella of the Houston B’nai Brith Youth Organization (BBYO). First elected to treasurer, she went on to become N’siah (president) of Reichman. Karen was also part of the 1973 Houston Israel Pilgrimage, a group of about 60 Jewish youth with a few adult chaperones that spent the summer exploring Israel and volunteering on an important archaeological dig. The Israeli leader of that trip, Amnon Binyaminovich, was killed a couple of months later, in October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. Karen saved the paperwork and photographs from this period of her past, and nearly fifty years later, donated the documents to the South Texas Jewish Archives, housed at Rice University. She currently lives in southern California.

The B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO) was founded in 1923. BBYO is the leading pluralistic teen movement aspiring to involve more Jewish teens in more meaningful Jewish experiences. For over 90 years, BBYO has provided exceptional identity enrichment and leadership development experiences for hundreds of thousands of Jewish teens. Excerpted from: https://bbyo.org/