I serve as rabbinic advisor at “a place where people come to learn and stay to teach”—Hillel’s Worship & Study Congregation. We welcome those who are curious about Judaism, those who are discovering themselves as Jews, those who are uncertain about Jewish identity. We include students and faculty, staff and community. Some of us are Jewish educators and professors; others among us don’t yet know a word of Hebrew. We aim to be a gateway into Judaism.

I’m a rabbi, so people tend to assume I grew up religious, but it’s not so: I grew up eating cheeseburgers and BLTs, knowing hardly more than aleph-bet. At Harvard, I did pre-med courses and majored in Greek; Plato was my Bible. But, also at Harvard, in my freshman year, I happened to meet and get into conversations with a lively, welcoming, non-pressuring Hillel rabbi. Eventually, tentatively, I found my way to his Worship & Study Congregation. And little by little I began to learn. Now I myself am one of those who came to learn and stayed to teach.

Given my background, it is natural, perhaps, that I am especially interested in people for whom connection to Judaism is not an “Of course!” I am available, quite apart from my congregational role, to help people explore aspects of Judaism and to talk one-on-one about identity and the things that come up in life. Congregational activities, too, can be venues for exploration: we get together—on Shabbat, on Jewish holidays, and at other times, too—for services, for study and for festive meals. And singing is a big part of it all. For me and for the Worship & Study Congregation, music is an important “Way In.”