Customers at Fuzzy’s Pizza Katy in West Houston have the option of ordering something a little bit more lofty than just a tomato pie as part of a current promotion. The family-owned pizza shop is offering a limited-edition Elie Wiesel keepsake box in honor of the Sept. 30 birthday of the late Holocaust survivor.
Wiesel died on July 2, 2016, at the age of 87.
It’s an opt-in program; owner Jeff Hajjar, 27, said he started with 72 keepsake boxes (as of Tuesday night, he had 19 left) in the 12-inch, or medium, size. When requested, customers will get an empty Elie Wiesel box, along with a commemorative Elie Wiesel postage stamp. The U.S. Postal Service recently released a stamp honoring the Nobel Prize laureate, the 18th stamp of its Distinguished Americans series. In addition, 18% of corresponding pizza orders will be donated to the Holocaust Museum Houston.
The box comes as part of Hajjar’s efforts to support the local, national and international Jewish community since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. In this instance, he said, he recalled Wiesel’s famous quote that “the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference” and was inspired to not be indifferent.
Hajjar, who is not Jewish, considers his eatery a community center first and a pizzeria second. He said that he ordered the custom-printed boxes to honor Wiesel, as well as to spark curiosity and conversation.
“I did it because I feel like remembrance shouldn’t be confined to museums or classrooms,” he stated. “It can show up in everyday life, even in something as ordinary as a pizza box.”
Word of the promotion, which was made public on Sept. 25, has spread at home and even abroad, noted Hajjar. In fact, he recently received a request from someone in England who wants a box saved for them.
‘Fuzzy’s was my blanket’
Houston can serve as a national example, making remembrance fresh, creative and impossible to ignore, said Hajjar, whose family is from Damascus, Syria. He serves on the board of advisers for Holocaust Museum Houston, compelled early on by a story he read about former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz’s meeting with the late Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and was further moved to action by the events of Oct. 7.
Hajjar said reading about the CEO’s experience with the rabbi, coupled with a story the rabbi told about a single blanket being given to every six people during the years of the Holocaust. Each recipient had to decide: Keep it alone or spread it out so others could get some warmth as well. He said that imagery has stuck with him all these years.
“I’m not at that scale, but I felt like after Oct. 7, Fuzzy’s was my blanket. I felt like I had the opportunity to stand up and do something right,” he told JNS, adding that it’s been a difficult decision, as his business has been targeted by vandals.
But he’d make the same choice again.
“I feel like if people walk away remembering Elie Wiesel for five minutes at their dinner table, that’s a win in my book—if we have one more person talking about him, and raising awareness and education about the Holocaust,” he said.
‘Going to get people talking’
Elyse Spector Kalmans, board chair of Holocaust Museum Houston and a third-generation Holocaust survivor, said Hajjar’s striving to make a difference has great potential. “This might trigger someone to want to read the book Night or learn more about Elie Wiesel’s story,” she said, adding that even thinking about his wise words could affect someone.
Having Hajjar be an ally is meaningful, she added. In addition to this initiative, he has hosted several events at Fuzzy’s Pizza Katy, including a Shabbat dinner that benefited the Holocaust museum. He also put up Rosh Hashanah decorations in his store, has hung an Israeli flag and helps share the museum’s message on social media, said Kalmans, adding that it’s important to have allies amplify a positive message.
“I think our goal at the end of the day is to ensure that the Holocaust never happens again and that we can live in a more peaceful society,” she said.
Ed Rochman, of West Houston, says the pizza-box offer is generating a buzz: “I looked at it and said, ‘Wow, this is certainly going to get people talking.’”
He met Hajjar at a fundraiser the pizza shop organized and has since helped staff some of the events.
“There are a lot of people who are going to wonder what this is all about,” said Rochman. “And if they ask Jeff or friends, it’s a way to continue to open and promote dialogue about the Holocaust, in general, but more about present-day antisemitism and the tolerance that we can hopefully promote through Holocaust Museum Houston and other avenues here.”
