2026 wand breaking ceremony at Houdini's grave

The SAM Parent Assembly #1 held its annual wand-breaking ceremony at Houdini's gravesite today. This year, it was live-streamed for the first time. The reading of the Broken Wands ritual was done by Rob Kirkpatrick, PA1's current chairman. The breaking of the wand was performed by Dean George Schindler. As always, Benjilini concluded the ceremony with the mourners' kaddish.

I was hoping to attend the wand breaking ceremony this year, which, for the 100th, I thought might be done on Halloween or the day after. However, it appears to have become dogma that it be done on the Jewish date of Houdini's death. Happily, that date was today, so it wasn't too far from Halloween, and being able to watch the live stream made me feel like I did indeed attend.

Related:

• S.A.M. wand breaking ceremony in 1976
• Houdini's grave is ready for its closeup!
• The Houdini-Weiss exedra turns 100