From our Executive Director, Gary Goleman

I want to tell you a little about myself and my vision of Hillel. I am relocating to Cleveland to become executive director of the Cleveland Hillel Foundation after spending six years in Binghamton New York as the founding director of Hillel at Binghamton. My family includes my wife Zippora, a native Israeli, and our four children; Yitzchak aged 17, Orit Mazal age 14, and twins who are 10 years old, Yosef and Rivka. My background includes a Masters in social work and a Doctorate in Education. I am originally from Pittsburgh and settled in Israel in 1981 after finishing my social work degree. I have worked mainly in the fields of informal Jewish Education, community organization, and immigrant absorption both in the field and as an agency director.

I started my position in Cleveland on July 1 and look forward to this new challenge. Cleveland Hillel has been serving the students at Case Western Reserve, Cleveland State, Oberlin and other universities and colleges in the area for sixty years. I thank the board of directors, students, staff, and the other stakeholders in the Cleveland Jewish community for offering me the unique opportunity to continue to develop a program that has already served tens of thousands of students. For me working in Hillel allows me to practice what I believe which is be involved in a dynamic pluralistic Jewish world that encourages each person to develop their Jewish journey in a way that is meaningful to them. I think we are best off as a People if we celebrate what unites us and learn to respect our differences. If we succeed at this we create a mosaic of Jewish life that is more beautiful than any of its individual pieces.

University is a time to dream of what could be and I think our Hillel can be a catalyst for students to think about how they can make the world a better place as we strengthen community and identity that is uniquely Jewish and universally human.

I understand that the Hillel Board of Directors, donors, staff and community leadership are involved because they believe in Jewish continuity and understand that the best way to ensure this is to support student initiatives. Through all of us working together Hillel can be the catalyst for strengthening the Jewish community on campus, become an integral part of campus culture, and connect young adults to the larger Jewish community.

With Blessings,

Gary