Welcoming Rachel Elibaum, New Senior Director of Jewish Student Life

Dear beloved fellow members of Harvard’s Jewish community,

I hope my message finds you, and those close to you, well.

The surging campus conflict of the past two years risks making us forget the most fundamental truth of universities, and of the college years: colleges are educational institutions, and students are in a life-shaping process of formation. Arriving at age eighteen, full of needs and ambitions, students experiment with different communities and causes, each searching for a template of behavior and mixture of identities that will nourish and motivate them throughout life. And in that brief span of a few years, Harvard Hillel is making the case – always implicitly, and occasionally explicitly – that a life lived in deep engagement with Judaism and the Jewish community will be a noble, full, and meaningful life.

We do this in one of the most densely saturated extracurricular environments in the world: at Harvard it is not an exaggeration to say that on any given Tuesday afternoon or Friday night, each student has dozens of compelling opportunities competing for her attention – from prison tutoring to orchestra to consulting club to their TF’s office hours to a walk on the Charles with friends. It takes special people, passionate and dedicated, to produce a Jewish life that students will choose here, and which will in turn nurture and inspire them.

The most important story line at Harvard Hillel over the past year was our search for a person with these capacities – who understood the how and the why of building a Jewish community of meaning and purpose out of shared meals, travel, song, study, swag, and just hanging out. At one point I called every camp director I knew or could get in touch with, and asked, “Who was your best division head over the past decade? I want to talk to them.”

And so I am grateful and excited to be introducing you to Rachel Eilbaum, Harvard Hillel’s new Senior Director of Jewish Student Life. Rachel is the person we need: she has led dozens of staff and hundreds of campers in creating a harmonious and joyous community at Young Judea Sprout Lake the past three years, and before that worked at Tufts Hillel engaging students. Her former colleagues share stories like, “She was always trailed by a gaggle of students,” and “She listens so attentively – that you just want to be in her presence; she has a charisma built on kindness.”

You can read more from and about Rachel below, and I hope you’ll get to meet her during your next visit to campus. Rachel’s start marks a completion as well – you’ve read over the summer about the new staff who have joined Hillel, and I am proud to say that our student-facing staff is complete, and already creating something beautiful and compelling for students as they arrive at and return to campus – and we’re just getting started.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
Executive Director

Dear Harvard Hillel Community,

I’m so honored to step into the role of Senior Director of Jewish Student Life at Harvard Hillel! What most excites me is the chance to help our students build Jewish communities that are full of meaning, joy, and belonging. I have always been drawn to creating spaces where people feel valued and inspired, spaces where Jewish life comes alive in those “only-at-Hillel” moments. That calling has carried me through every step of my journey in Jewish communal life, and now it brings me here, with gratitude, to Harvard Hillel.

My love for this work started at summer camp, where I first felt the magic of a vibrant Jewish community. The laughter, the music, the endless sense of connection- it all rooted in me a deep desire to help others feel that same spark of home in Jewish spaces. That passion brought me to Tufts Hillel as the IACT Coordinator for Israel Engagement, where I got to walk alongside students as they explored their connections to Israel and deepened their Jewish journeys on campus.

Most recently, I returned to Camp Sprout Lake, where I served as Assistant Director for nearly four years. My favorite part of that role was all the little things- playing basketball with a homesick camper, popping into the ceramics elective, having one-on-ones with my staff, and of course, making plenty of tie-dye. Together, those small moments created summers filled with growth and meaning. They also reminded me that Jewish life thrives most when relationships are built with intention, care, and joy.

What moves me most are the long-term relationships I’ve been fortunate to build and sustain through my work. Whether it’s watching a camper who lived in my bunk twelve summers ago grow into a unit head I later supervised, visiting a student I once took on Birthright in her Tel Aviv apartment five years later, or sharing countless coffee dates and years-long WhatsApp group chats along the way, being part of my campers’, staff, and students’ journeys has been a true blessing. That’s why I do this work: I’m at my best when the people I serve feel seen, celebrated, and supported.

Now, I can’t wait to bring that same energy and passion to Harvard Hillel. I’m thrilled to partner with our students in creating a Jewish community that’s vibrant, inclusive, and full of life. At the heart of it all are the relationships we’ll build together. I can’t wait to meet you, hear what excites you, and dream together about what Hillel can be for you.

With gratitude,

Rachel Eilbaum
Senior Director of Jewish Student Life