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Internship in Experiential Jewish Education

The Genesis internship offers emerging educators the opportunity to explore their interest in the field of experiential Jewish learning in a challenging and supportive framework. The interns are primarily responsible for social action projects and educational programming, and they have many opportunities to learn from and collaborate with the community educators in areas of residential life and community education.

Meet the 2013 Genesis Interns

Sara Blumenthal

Sara Blumenthal is a rising senior at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she is a double major in Psychology and Hebrew and Jewish Cultural Studies. Having been a Genesis participant she is looking forward to experiencing Genesis as a staff member. Sara has been steadily engaged in Jewish education since high school: as a Hebrew school teacher aide, overnight camp counselor, and most recently Hebrew school teacher. In her spare time, Sara enjoys dialoguing about complex topics, taking walks in Ann Arbor, swimming, and simply spending time with friends and family. She attends Hillel weekly where she occasionally leads Kabbalat Shabbat. Since Genesis, Sara has returned to Brandeis several times and cannot wait to be back for another great summer.

Daniel Kasdan

Hailing from Teaneck, NJ, Daniel Kasdan attended Brandeis University (’13), where he majored in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies with a minor in Creative Writing. He was very active in the Jewish community on campus, having served as the President of the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, Co-Chair of the annual Hillel at Brandeis First-Year Retreat, intern for the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), and on Hillel at Brandeis’ JLIC rabbinic search committee. With a passion for Jewish history and tradition, Daniel plans on pursuing a career in Jewish education; he has previously taught Bible, Talmud, and Jewish laws/customs at Camp Moshava, along with leading weekly Jewish text studies at Brandeis. In the fall, he will begin graduate school at Yeshiva University, simultaneously pursuing a rabbinic degree and a master’s in Medieval Jewish History. In his free time, Daniel can be found collecting rare James Bond books (in any language), finding ever more creative ways to eat a Reese’s, and reminiscing about 90s TV shows.

Sarah Pila

Sarah Pila is in her fourth year at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. Her studies include a major in Psychology and minors in Family, Youth, & Community Sciences as well as Mass Communication. On campus, she has served as a Preview Staffer (Orientation Leader) and Student Preview Supervisor for the last two summers. Sarah also volunteers as the USY (United Synagogue Youth) advisor alongside her twin sister, Stefani at Congregation B’nai Israel in Gainesville. Sarah’s interests include playing with babies, learning about babies, and looking at pictures of babies on the Internet. After graduation in May and spending the summer with Genesis, she will begin graduate school in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University and eventually plans to work with children of all ages. Sarah has been an active member of UF Hillel for the last four years and is currently serving as the Shabbat & Holidays Intern there. Sarah is extremely excited to be a Genesis intern and can’t wait to for this summer to start!

Michael Snow

Michael Snow is a rising senior at Binghamton University, majoring in philosophy and English with a minor in Judaic studies. After graduating from the Ramaz School in Manhattan, he studied for a year at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem. During the upcoming school year, Michael will serve as the editor of the opinion section of Pipe Dream, the Binghamton University student newspaper. In that capacity, he will manage a team of 25 staff writers as well as be responsible for biweekly editorials. Michael will also take up the post of vice president of Chabad, having previously served as the education chair. He has also been the vice president of the Binghamton University Zionist Organization. In recent summers, Michael has interned through the CLIP program at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic rabbinical school, studied as a fellow at Mechon Hadar and worked as a counselor at Camp Ramah in Nyack. Michael is also an occasional contributor to The Jewish Week and the Times of Israel.