I am delighted to become a member of the Harvard Chaplains. Below, I’ve provided a brief introduction, but my most important message is that I would love to hear from you about your own journey and quest for meaning and fulfillment. I’m also available, anytime, to grab a cup of coffee and commiserate about the Red Sox. My contact information is on this page—please don’t hesitate to be in touch!

For those who would like to learn more about me…

I am the Associate Director at Harvard Hillel, where I have worked since 2003. Through this role, I advise students on their spiritual journeys, both at Harvard and through travel seminars in Israel, Mexico, and New Orleans; conduct religious services and life cycle events, including wedding and funeral ceremonies; and convene students and community members from throughout Harvard University for interreligious and interfaith events, including Sukkat Salaam and last year’s “On Faith at Harvard” activities sponsored by the Harvard Chaplains.

I believe that all of us are on a journey to infuse our lives with meaning. Harvard Hillel plays an important role in providing appropriate grounding for students to make well-informed, well-considered choices that will have an impact on their own lives, their relationships, their communities, and the wider world, both Jewish and universal. The institution of Hillel creates an environment in which students from every Jewish background—and no Jewish background at all—come together to express themselves in a vibrant community that models respect and learning from each other’s experiences. I am proud of my current efforts in these areas, and am excited about the potential enhancement and broadening of my efforts as a member of the Harvard Chaplains.

We are living in an extraordinary moment, both for the Jewish people and for humanity. Faced with new global challenges and wonderful global opportunities, Harvard University is pivotal in developing the young leaders who will guide future generations. The Harvard Chaplains have the opportunity, capacity, and responsibility to infuse Harvard’s culture with deep questioning and thinking about values and meaning, and I am excited to participate in this endeavor.

My own path has been a quest to combine my skills, talents, and passions to make a positive and meaningful impact in the lives of others. Following my undergraduate education at Stanford University, I joined the newly-formed Teach for America Teacher Corps to work with children and families in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the civil disturbances associated with the Rodney King verdict. This experience led me to study at the Kennedy School of Government, and, following that, to work as the Policy Director at the Providence Plan, a nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of Rhode Island’s capital city.

As I developed skills in community organizing and policy development, I also grew increasingly involved in the Jewish community as a lay leader. This led me to visit Israel for the first time in early 2000 with Livnot U’Lehibanot (To Build and to Be Built). My experience on Livnot was transformative and opened the potential for both Israel and Jewish learning to have great meaning in my life. I soon returned to Israel and lived in Jerusalem from 2001-2003, first as a Dorot Fellow and then as a Fellow at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. While experiencing the most difficult and intense period of the second Intifada, I studied traditional Jewish texts, traveled throughout the country, and developed a deep love and understanding for the Jewish homeland and for the Israelis who inhabit it. I came to understand the existential challenges facing Jews and Israelis in a very personal way. I also worked for the first time in Jewish education, as a counselor on the Nesiya Institute summer program in 2002 and 2003.

I returned to America believing that the most significant way in which I can contribute to the world is through building the Jewish community and connecting it with the broader communities that constitute the fabric of spiritual quest in America and beyond.

Harvard Hillel, where I have worked since returning from Israel, is deeply committed to its mission of guiding students as they make choices about who they want to become as Jews and as human beings. I am particularly proud of my interfaith and intercultural work, helping to create relationships and programming that connect students from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds on the Harvard campus.

I am married to Claire Sufrin, the Schusterman Fellow in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University. We love to welcome students into our home for Shabbat and holiday meals.

As I noted above, I would love to hear from you about your own journey and quest for meaning and fulfillment. My contact information is on this page—please don’t hesitate to be in touch!