JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Pre-business freshman Jordon Stein contemplates a call last night in a poker tournament held at the Hillel Foundation. The event, co-hosted by Alpha Epsilon Pi and the Hillel Foundation, raised money for the Ethiopian Jewish Community in Israel.

Read it and weep: Last night students at the Hillel Foundation, a center for Jewish students at the UA, played poker to raise money for the Ethiopian Jewish Community in Israel.

The event, hosted by Alpha Epsilon Pi and the Hillel Foundation, cost $10 to enter and was open to everyone.

Matt Van Horn, the president of the fraternity and a marketing and entrepreneurship junior, said he hoped the event would raise a lot of money for the cause.

"We are hoping to raise $1,000 from 100 poker participants," Van Horn said.

Van Horn also said proceeds from the event were going toward a good cause.

"Alpha Epsilon Pi's national philanthropy is to raise money for two Ethiopian Jewish Community Centers in Israel," Van Horn said. "Seventy-two percent of Ethiopian Jews live below the poverty level."

Aaron Pratt, a Jewish Campus Services Core Fellow at the Hillel Foundation, also said the poker event was a great way to raise money for Ethiopians living in Israel.

"Israel is kind of a patchwork country of different ethnicities," Pratt said. "The Ethiopian Jews have a really hard time trying to adapt, and a lot of times they are very, very poor."

According to Alpha Epsilon Pi's Web site, today about 80,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, with 55 percent having arrived in Israel since 1990.

Also, while the Ethiopian community's quality of life has increased dramatically over levels in Ethiopia, a great deal of work still needs to be done in order to integrate Ethiopian community into mainstream Israeli society, according to the Web site.

It's a great way to get all the poker fans on this campus involved in helping people. – Matt Van HornAlpha Epsilon Pi president

Rachel Heinly, a physical education sophomore who worked at the event, said she thought the poker game was a great idea.

"It's raising money for a really good cause, and everybody gets to meet people who also like to play poker," Heinly said.

Van Horn said along with being a fun game, poker was a good way to contribute to the community.

"This is a great way to give back to the Jewish community," Van Horn said. "Poker is the hottest college activity right now. It's a great way to get all the poker fans on this campus involved in helping people and raising money for philanthropy."

The event ended just before 9 p.m. yesterday, and the organization hosted 77 players and raised $770 for the charity.