When Jewish Baltimoreans think of Chanukah, they mostly think of dreidels, gelt, lighting the menorah and presents. But after Dec. 14, they’ll probably think of Chizuk Amuno Congregation’s HanuCon.
This year, the Pikesville synagogue will host its first-ever HanuCon, an event where Chanukah meets Comic-Con, the famous fan convention for comic book lovers. Guests at the event will include Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer, voice actor Dee Bradley Baker – best known for his work on various Star Wars television series – and screenwriter Mathew Klickstein.
“Making the [difference] between a traditional Comic-Con, like a traditional comic book convention, then incorporating the Jewish aspects of it and bridging that gap, I think we’ve done a very, very good job of it,” said Michael Silberman, co-chair of the event.
Silberman, fellow co-chair Ryan Brook and the congregation’s executive director, David Schimmel, came up with the idea after brainstorming a way to bring together their love of pop culture and the Jewish community.
“We just started talking about what a cool idea that would be, based on David’s idea to involve pop culture and a Comic-Con feel — like Baltimore Comic-Con, or a toy show, or comic book show, trading card show — and make this as an event for not only the congregation and the Jewish community, but open it up to anyone in the community,” said Silberman.
Originally, Silberman said that they wanted to do a Star Wars-themed convention on May 4, but they decided to push it back because of a lack of preparation time. He added that they chose to push the convention to December because pairing it with Chanukah just made sense.
“If we wait six months, seven months, we’re really prepared for this, do it in December, we can incorporate Chanukah, certainly the gift buying portion of Chanukah,” Silberman added. “The Jewish culture side of it, combined with the Comic-Con aspect … it just fit and made sense organically.”
Brook said further inspiration for the event was the congregation’s tradition of hosting a “Gift Seek,” where Jewish vendors would set up inside Chizuk Amuno and congregation members were able to do their Chanukah shopping.
Tickets to HanuCon will include access to more than 85 vendors, panel discussions with Baker and Kremer, card trading, a sports memorabilia silent auction, and appearances from the Oriole Bird and Cosplay characters such as The Mandalorian, Spider-Man, and the Green Power Ranger.
Klickstein, meanwhile, will focus on the comic book aspect of the event. “Mathew is a Jewish author of many comic books, but also a book that talks specifically about Jewish culture and how it relates to comics and superheroes,” said Silberman. “He’s going to be doing a one-hour panel with kids. Specifically, a lot of the middle schoolers are coming and [Klickstein] loves to talk about animation.”
Additionally, there will be a photo booth, kosher concession stands and an opportunity to take a photo with a Ghostbusters Ecto-1 replica car.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to purchase add-ons for autograph signings and photo ops with Baker and Kremer as well as the opportunity to get the autographs authenticated and graded on site.
“There is a Step and Repeat photo opportunity that is created to, when you go to take the picture, it will make a Pokémon card with your face on it, which is pretty neat,” Silberman added.
There are also VIP tickets available that include earlier entry to the event and reserved seating during the panels.
So far, according to Brook, Chizuk Amuno has sold roughly 240 tickets for the event but Silberman said he hopes to see upward of a thousand tickets sold.
Silberman also mentioned that tickets purchased between Dec. 1 and 12 will be entered into a raffle to get a VIP experience with Dean Kramer at HanuCon. Kremer, the Israeli-American pitcher who has pitched for Israel in the World Baseball Classic, is one of the Orioles’ best hurlers, winning 11 games this past season.
“The goal here was to have a great, safe experience for people to bridge the gap between collectibles and Jewish culture,” added Silberman.
VIP entry starts at 8 a.m. and then doors will open for general admission at 9 a.m. The event will go until 3 p.m.
“I’m super excited to see hundreds of people just in the building, having a good time meeting the characters walking around,” said Brook. “Just seeing all those folks coming to [Chizuk Amuno] and having a great time, and hopefully in a couple months or a year … saying ‘Remember that time we went to [Chizuk Amuno] and met Dean Kremer and bought some sports cards? That’s the stuff that I look forward to.”
