Esther Abramowitz serves as the Director of Student Life in Israel working for Hillel in Israel and lives in Jerusalem.  She is blessed to have the chance to meet all of the Taglit-Birthright Israel: Hillel Birthright Israel busses and work with the amazing Hillel staff that accompanies these groups. She is honored and humbled to witness phenomenal “wow” moments daily.  She is super proud to have the opportunity to work with the Israeli Hillel staff.  She learns from them every day.  Esther lives in her own awesome tiny apartment in Jerusalem with a mirpeset (balcony) with sometimes blooming flowers. Please let her know when you're in town as she loves to host guests.  She also loves to travel, read, watch sappy movies, cook, hang out with friends and visit with her magnificent siblings, nieces and nephews when she is in the States.


Rachel Gildiner is the Associate Director for Student Engagement at Hillel’s Schusterman International Center in Washington, D.C.   Rachel’s work focuses primarily on Hillel’s Student Engagement Initiatives – The Campus Entrepreneurs Initiative (CEI) and Peer-Network Engagement Internship.  Before joining Hillel in 2007 Rachel spent two years working in development for Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Business School.  Rachel graduated in 2005 from List College, an undergraduate joint program between Columbia University and The Jewish Theological Seminary, where she majored in Sociology and Modern Jewish Studies.  She received her Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration at The George Washington University in 2011.  Originally from Philadelphia, and then Cherry Hill, NJ, Rachel now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and their son, Samuel.  

Lenny Goldstein

Lenny Goldstein is the Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tufts Hillel. He works closely with the Executive Director on issues regarding strategic planning and organizational management and is responsible for fiscal and budgetary management, facility utilization, staff management and administration, as well as financial and board resource development. Lenny holds an MBA in Nonprofit Management from Boston University. He is an avid cyclist and enjoys live theater, great books and bad tv.


Stevie Friedman is Director of Conference and Event Planning for Hillel’s Schusterman International Center and is going on 11 years in that role.  Stevie has a Masters in Tourism Administration with concentrations both in Event Management and Sustainable Tourism from The George Washington University’s School of Business.  In her copious spare time, Stevie enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 awesome kids (5 & 2), especially if a visit to an aquarium, Disney or Israel is included!  She is currently trying to figure out how to add a dog or 2 back into the family.


Graham Hoffman is Associate Vice President of Strategy at Hillel’s Schusterman International Center.  He has been actively engaged in Hillel’s Strategic Planning Process and implementing the plan for the past 6 years.  Now, he and his team work to incubate, develop, and advance innovative projects and approaches to deliver in Hillel’s priority objectives and to coordinate the efforts of the International Center and local Hillels in the successful implementation of the plan.  He began his professional career at global consulting firm, Accenture, specializing in Operations Improvement and Human Performance.  Graham, originally from Milwaukee, WI, is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis' Olin School of Business in Human Resource Management and Marketing.


Shana Teig Kantor is originally from Long Island, NY, like many of the Jewish students at Binghamton University. She holds masters' degrees from New York University in Non-profit Management and Jewish Studies. She has lived in Israel and studied for two years at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.  This is her eleventh year working for Hillel. Three of those years were at Hillel's Schusterman International Center in Washington, D.C., one year as the director of Hillel's Collegiate Leadership Internship Program in Manhattan, and two years as the Director of Development at the University of Southern California Hillel. She has been the Executive Director for Hillel at Binghamton since fall 2007.  Shana is married to Rabbi Shalom Kantor and they have a daughter Rena and a son Noam.


Jason Leivenberg was born and raised a die-hard Dodger and Laker fan in Sherman Oaks, CA. He received his BA in Sociology and Mass Communications from University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis on social change through media.  Before Jason got his start in professional coffee drinking and schmoozing, he worked as the Social Media Development intern for the Los Angeles Dodgers charity, ThinkCure, helping to raise funds for cancer research. Jason is entering his fourth year with Hillel; he spent his first year as the Engagement Associate at Santa Barbara Hillel and has since been at the Hillel at UCLA as the Director of Engagement.  Jason was a Jeremiah Fellow with the Progressive Jewish Alliance in Los Angeles, in his quest to bring social justice to the world. He is also is a Lynn B. Harrison LAPID fellow.  Jason is excited to be back in St. Louis and on the steering committee.


Ricky Marcus joined the Hillel at Kent State staff in 2010 as the Director of Jewish Student Life, after serving four years as the program director for the Cleveland Hillel Foundation. Originally from Cleveland, Ricky attended Indiana University where he studied the business of music and Jewish studies. Prior to working for Hillel, Ricky worked for The Agency Group in New York City where he assisted talent agents in booking international tours for popular music acts. While continuing his work at Hillel, Ricky is currently pursuing a master’s degree in higher education at Kent State University.

Emily Perl is thrilled to be a part of the Hillel Institute Steering Committee, as she begins her third year as the Director of Engagement at Penn Hillel.  In her role at Penn, Emily co-leads the Jewish Renaissance Project (JRP), the separately branded engagement initiative on campus.  Through the JRP, she supervises CEI, The Jewish Life Liaisons, who build community in freshmen dorms, and adjust action, a social-justice initiative born out of her involvement in Harrison LAPID… among many, many other things. Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, and then Tampa, Florida, Emily lived in New York City for six years after graduating from Cornell University.  She began her career in Television (her first job out of college was working for David Letterman!), but after her multi-million dollar contract ended, she decided it was time to follow her passions.  Emily then became the Director of National Programs for Birthright Israel NEXT.  In June 2010, Emily and her husband left the Big Apple and settled in the City of Brotherly Love.  She loves swimming, traveling, watching anything on HGTV, and frozen yogurt – and will gladly join anyone, anytime for some – just try me!

David Rittberg is the Executive Director at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University. Prior to his four years at NYU, David had worked at Stanford Hillel and was a JCSC fellow at the University of Arizona Hillel.  Originally from Binghamton, NY, David attended Penn State University where he majored in Business Administration and is currently pursuing a masters degree at NYU Wagner.  When not working, David can be seen at the gym, with guitar in hand, or spending time with his family and friends.


Jake Rubin has served as the Executive Director of the Brody Jewish Center, Hillel at the University of Virginia, for the past three years.  Jake is originally from Richmond, VA, and holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia (wahoowa!). In 2009, he received his rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), from which he also graduated with a Master's of Arts in Hebrew Letters. While a student at RRC, Jake served as the Jewish Student Advisor at Swarthmore College, an affiliate of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia. He also worked as a chaplain for Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia and as an educator and student rabbi for a number of congregations during his time at RRC. Prior to rabbinical school, Jake was a fellow for PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.  Jake lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Lindsay, and his two children, Sophie and Jonah.


Susannah Sagan has worked at OSU Hillel since 1998 arriving as the Director of Development and Marketing.  As the Associate Director her responsibilities expanded to include all external relations.  For the past six years, she has had a blended position that involves supervision of the programmatic and relationship building pieces of OSU Hillel in addition to fundraising and community relations.  This past summer she was awarded the 2011 International Hillel Richard S. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award.  She is currently building OSU Hillel’s new Growing Jewish Columbus Initiative. She attended Brandeis University where she met her now husband and is the mother of two sons.


Rabbi Yehuda Sarna serves as a University Chaplain for NYU and Rabbi of the Bronfman Center, which he joined in 2002. He also teaches as Adjunct Faculty in the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service. Rabbi Sarna was awarded the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence from Hillel International in 2008, and was listed as one of “36-under-36 Changemakers” by the Jewish Week in 2009. He and Michelle live with their five children, Batya, Maayan, Moshe, Daveed and Amital in Gramercy Green, an NYU residence hall.


Jamie Schiffman is the Director of Professional Development for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman International Center.  Prior to this position, she spent 7 years on campus helping create Jewish life for thousands of students at the Hillels at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University.  In 2003, she received the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence Award.  A native of the Chicago suburbs, she received a BA in Psychology from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and a MA in Student Development in Postsecondary Education from the University of Iowa-Iowa City. She currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband Andrew and their daughters Madeline and Naomi.