People

Concentration: Undecided – possibly history and studio art Hometown: Lexington, Massachusetts Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? During Dimensions, I attended Shabbat services and dinner at Hillel and I loved the people and the atmosphere.  Even though I am just beginning my time at Dartmouth, I love attending Hillel events and I already feel at home at Hillel. What is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? I love Passover because my entire extended family comes together for the Seder.  We also add songs and readings to the Haggadah every year, so, even though we continue the same traditions year after year, our Seder is always evolving. Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? Carole King

Concentration: Neuroscience, Anthropology Hometown: Mansfield, MA Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I chose to become involved with community service at Dartmouth College Hillel because it is something I’ve always been passionate about and I think it’s very important for the members of Hillel to give back to the Upper Valley as the community is such a big part of the Dartmouth experience. What do you want to be when you grow up? I hope to be a neuroscientist and research neuropathology, and eventually I would love to be a professor, as well. Why is Dartmouth College Hillel important to you? I love the sense of community I feel at every Hillel event and I want for that to not only be a bigger part of my life but also to help make it a part of other students’ lives.

Concentration: Women’s and Gender Studies Hometown: Detroit, Michigan Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I am involved with the Dartmouth College Hillel because I really enjoy Jewish culture and community.  Since the Dartmouth College Hillel is pluralistic, it gives me the chance to meet Jews who have different backgrounds, opinions, and traditions.  It is an open, comfortable place to be Jewish: religiously, spiritually, and socially. What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? My favorite Shabbat tradition at the Dartmouth College Hillel is simply sitting around the table and talking to friends.  I look forward to Shabbat dinner at the Hillel every week because it is a time to forget about schoolwork and other distractions.  It is so calming to eat delicious food and catch up with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? This is a tough question, but I think Jerry Seinfeld is my favorite famous Jewish person.  He is admired by all people as a great comedian and even volunteered at Kibbutz Sa’ar when he was 16!  What a mensch!

Concentration: Economics and Mathematics Hometown: Washington D.C. Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? Dartmouth College Hillel is my home away from home.  It’s a community that’s helped me adapt to college life by giving me a place to meet smart, interesting, and welcoming people.  I’m really glad that I got so involved with Hillel so early, which enabled me to make close friends from all classes. What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? I love Friday night services and dinner.  The atmosphere is so warm and welcoming.  We have individuals from different sects of Judaism, and sometimes non-Jews join us as well.  Dinners are a great time to be together as a community.  Classes are done for the week; everyone just talks, catching up with old friends and making new ones.  I really feel that Friday night brings the Hillel community together – and welcomes the rest of the Dartmouth community to join. What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? My favorite Shabbat tradition is opening Friday night services with Yedid Nefesh.  I find it a beautiful opening song, and it’s a quintessential piece of the Kabbalat Shabbat Service.  For me, it really sets the mood for the rest of the night.

Concentration: Neuroscience Hometown: Dix Hills, NY Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I have found and continue to find that Hillel is an amazing and accepting place where you can meet amazing people who have similar backgrounds.  I sincerely value the accessibility of the Hillel and the meaningful relationships that I have formed with the people I have met. What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? I really enjoy the Passover Seder because it brings together a ton of people of different faiths for a fun and delicious experience. Why is Dartmouth College Hillel important to you? Hillel provides an incredible outlet where Jewish people of all grade levels across campus can come together and connect over various traditions, and especially a good meal.

Concentration: Government Hometown: Rye, New York Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I love the Hillel community. It is filled with nice, genuine people with similar interests yet each is unique in his or her own way. I can’t imagine not being involved. What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? Friday Night Dinners (Thank you Nick!) Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? Elie Wiesel

Concentration: Government and Anthropology Hometown: Highland Park, IL What is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? Passover, it has a lot of tradition and is very family and community oriented Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? Yitzhak Rabin Why is Dartmouth College Hillel important to you? It provides me with a warm environment based on cultural affininities that make me feel at home.

Concentration: Biomedical Engineering Hometown: Spring Lake, NJ Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I was a regional board member of NFTY (the National Federation of Temple Youth) in high school, and I really wanted to remain involved with as much Jewish life as possible at Dartmouth. I attended one Hillel open exec meeting and was absolutely hooked after my first bite of cookie dough... so naturally, I ran for a board position immediately. Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? I am more than a little bit obsessed with Jon Stewart. I don’t have much backup for the claim that he is actually the best Jew currently in existence, but he is undeniably hilarious and also incredibly intelligent. Did you know that he proposed to his wife via crossword puzzle?! What do you want to be when you grow up? If this is simply a question of want, I would be beyond thrilled to be a judge on a Food Network show, preferably Chopped. (This is my backup plan if the whole engineering thing doesn’t work out.)

Concentration: Biology, Psychology Hometown: Potomac, MD What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? My favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event is bagel brunch. I really miss good bagels from home and the Novack bagels don’t make the cut. It is really nice to get really good bagels every few weeks and enjoy them with my friends at Hillel. What is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? My favorite Jewish holiday is Passover because I love having all of my friends and family come over to my house for seder on the second night. My parents and I stay up all night cooking before our seder and my dad makes a delicious chocolate cheesecake only once a year that is kosher for Passover. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to do research on the genetics of cancer and hopefully help us move forward in finding a cure.

Concentration: Hopefully hardcore science Hometown: Chevy Chase, MD Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? I wanted to become more involved in the Hillel to work with the other members of the Jewish community at Dartmouth to coordinate events, and meet other Dartmouth students who share similar values to me. What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? Eating challah. Why is Dartmouth College Hillel important to you? I want to remain involved with Judaism and learn more about the religion and its culture through interactions with the other members at Dartmouth.

Concentration: Music and Psychology Hometown: Manhattan, NY Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? Dartmouth Hillel is a warm, inviting, social and religious space which brings Dartmouth Jews together for a variety of exciting and meaningful projects, social gatherings, and religious experiences. What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? The Hillel Choir Concerts! Jews and Java is also really nice…oh and of course Claudallah!! What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? Hearing the beautiful music of our worship.

Concentration: undecided, but probably ENVS/Government Hometown: Montreal, Canada Why are you involved with Dartmouth College Hillel? Back in Montreal I was a Hillel Leadership Intern and Co-President of my school’s chapter, so my memories with Hillel go way back, and I’d love to keep being involved in college. I’m also big on sustainability and eco-mindedness, so being Sustainability Coordinator combines the best of both worlds! What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? Lighting the candles with my mom and older sister. There’s this special moment when we do it at home when time just seems to stop completely. What is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? Hannukkah, because it just has everything: it’s always near winter break, my birthday, and has the best food. Besides, every year I get to spell it differently!

Concentration: English and Linguistics double major Hometown: San Diego, CA What is your favorite Dartmouth College Hillel event? My favorite event is definitely Shabbat dinner. I love getting to catch up with friends I may not have been able to see much of during the week, and I always feel like it’s a great and relaxing end to a busy Dartmouth week. What is your favorite Shabbat tradition? When I was growing up, Shabbat was always the first time during the week when my whole family could be reliably counted upon to come together as a family. My father would often spend the workweek away from the house, but he always came back on Thursday late at night, so Friday night dinner was the time for us to eat as a family and to share with each other how our weeks had gone. Now that I am at Dartmouth, my favorite Shabbat tradition also involves food, but now I’m the one cooking it, not just gratefully gulping it down. I love getting to the Roth Center after a long morning of back-to-back classes and relaxing in the meditative act of cooking. I had never really cooked before coming to Dartmouth, so it is not at all something I had expected to find so delightful, but now I consider it the perfect capstone to a hectic week. Who is your favorite famous Jewish person (dead or alive)? Although they tended to be rather assimilated, I love all the Jewish critics and theorists who worked in Western Europe between 1850 and 1950. People like Karl Marx, Sigismund Freud, Gertrude Stein, György Lukács, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and Leo Löwenthal all have become canonical figures of the literary establishment, and though they had diverse experiences (Benjamin took his own life to escape capture by the Nazis, while Stein managed to live surprisingly openly in occupied France, likely because she had friends in the Vichy regime), they were all united by a very Jewish appreciation and desire for intellectual growth. I do not always (or even necessarily ever) fully agree with their theories, but that is kind of the point: they each made critical contributions to an intellectual discourse which continues to this day, and which will continue long after I have my own small say.

Rabbi Boraz received his smicha (ordination) from Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1993. He continued in its School of Graduate Studies and was awarded a Ph.D. in Talmud in 1998. Prior to his matriculation at HUC, Rabbi earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola University School of Law (’75) and practiced for ten years.

As Rabbi and Executive Director of Dartmouth Hillel for the past 12 years, Rabbi Boraz has always strived to further Dartmouth Hillel’s mission. He works hard to improve the quality of Jewish life at Dartmouth for each and every Jewish student and to contribute positively to the growth and development of the Dartmouth community at large.

Students should always feel free to contact Rabbi Boraz at rabbi@dartmouth.edu or to call the Hillel Office at (603)646-0361.

Claudia performs the usual clerical duties surrounding a busy office, such as keeping Rabbi’s calendar, ordering supplies, taking care of the Roth Center, and helping students organize events. Hillel would not run the same way without her. Claudia’s favorite time is when students come in to chat with her about whatever is on their minds. Sometimes they have an idea for a program they would like to see Hillel offer, or maybe they have questions about a different program already in place. But her personal favorite – to just chat!

During her 11 years here, Claudia has accumulated 131 postcards on her walls (and at least as many more for which she does not have enough wall space) from all the amazing places that Dartmouth Hillel students visit. She’s grateful that in their busy schedules, they find the time to send her a note about the grand times they are having all over the world. Hillel is a remarkable group of students that keep Claudia’s job interesting and fun!

Feel free to come for a chat whenever you’re on campus!

Anat Gimburg joined Dartmouth Hillel from the mid-Atlantic region where she has spent most of her life. Born on Kibbutz Urim in southern Israel, Anat grew up in an Israeli household in Baltimore. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Architecture and then worked for a global design firm in Washington, DC. While in college, Anat co-founded a Jewish/Israel advocacy organization on campus, working closely with Hillel, Chabad and other student organizations to develop programming focused on Israel education, awareness and understanding. She also served as president of the UMD chapter of American Institute of Architecture Students where she led a team of students to create academic, social and professional development programs.

Anat is very excited to be back in a college environment and to work with the students at Dartmouth. Coming from a design background, she hopes to share her creativity and ability to “think outside the box” to help the students create a warm and vibrant Jewish community at the Roth Center and at Dartmouth.

Have an idea about a program you would like to see at Hillel? Never been to Israel or just can’t wait to return? Want to practice Hebrew? Just need to talk to someone? Please stop by the Roth Center anytime to talk to Anat. When she is not meeting with students at Hillel or around campus, Anat can be found in her office (downstairs at the Roth Center). Her door is always open and students are always welcome.