Students
Each year, 10 to 15 qualified future Jewish professionals from all backgrounds are chosen to enroll in the Hornstein Program. A typical student has strong academic qualifications and several years of work experience in organizations such as Jewish camps, museums. Hillels and Jewish education; federations and JCCs; fundraising, community relations and start-ups; and work in overseas Jewish communities.
Some students are experienced professionals in other fields who are searching for meaningful work that brings their personal and professional identities closer together. No matter what their background, our students chose the Hornstein Program to become critically informed, highly skilled professionals committed to shaping the future of the Jewish community.
The diversity of a typical class adds to its intellectual and professional excitement. Because graduates will be working in an increasingly diverse Jewish community, they confront tough questions about pluralism, tolerance and inclusion in their training. The educational experience at the Hornstein Program presents "living models" of good professional practice.
First-year Students
Lauren Fredman (MA/MBA) grew up in Salt Lake City, UT and Denver, CO. After graduating from high school, she spent a year studying and volunteering in Israel through Young Judaea Year Course. Lauren earned her bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in psychology from the University of Missouri in 2009, graduating magna cum laude. In college, she served as the president of Hillel and taught at the local synagogue. Lauren has spent the past two years as an Education Fellow at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, MS. As an Education Fellow, she traveled throughout the South and served as a resource for 11 congregations by writing curricula, leading services and teacher training programs, teaching lessons, and facilitating programs in each community. Lauren is extremely excited to join the Hornstein community and is especially interested in informal education, camping, and working with underserved Jewish communities. Lauren is a recipient of the Jewish Community Center Association Graduate Scholarship and plans to work at a Jewish Community Center upon graduating from Hornstein.
Levi Kerzhner (MA/MBA) was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. He made Aliyah with his parents and younger sister in 1990 when he was 5 years old, and has been living in Netanya, Israel since. After serving for three years in the Israeli Defense Forces as a commander in the infantry, he attended Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva where he earned a BA in Business Management and Political Science. Upon graduation, Levi accepted work at Brooklyn College Hillel in New York as an Israel Program Coordinator. Levi was the adviser of the Israel Club on campus and was in charge of bringing Israel to the Jewish students through educational, cultural and advocacy programs. Throughout Levi's two years at Brooklyn College Hillel, he worked with many students from different backgrounds and staffed two Birthright Israel trips. Levi is very passionate about the Jewish world, in general, and Israel, in particular, and strives to continue contributing to the Jewish community.
Elisheva Massel (MA/MBA) emigrated from Johannesburg, South Africa to Sydney, Australia at the age of 14. She received her BA/BSW in Transgenerational Transmission of Holocaust Trauma from the University of New South Wales. Elisheva was a youth leader, Director of Education and NSW Vice President of Hineni Youth and Welfare Australia. She has also led multiple international programs in Israel, Poland, Austria and the United States, including March of the Living, AUJS Academy, Taglit Birthright, Poland Heritage Tour and AUJS Leadership Development Program. She is an avid believer in Limmud having been a volunteer and presenter at Limmud-Oz and a steering committee member for Limmud-Oz Fest. She spent her gap year in Israel on the Hineni Shnat program, is a graduate of Machon le' Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz and is a Nahum Goldmann Fellow. She spent 3 years as Education Officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum before deciding to further her studies combining her belief in Jewish community with professional training and experience. Elisheva is passionate about values education, combating racism, social entrepreneurship and global Jewish citizenship. Elisheva is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar.
Geoffrey (Geo) Poor (MA/MBA) graduated from Clark University with a BA in Music and a concentration in Jewish studies. During college, he spent several summers working at Camp Ramah in Nyack, NY, and was Clark's Hillel Shabbat Chair. His Jewish studies capstone project dealt with the formation of eschatological beliefs within early Judaism. After college, Geo worked at the Solomon Schechter Day School and UPS, and has spent the past several years working with USY. He was raised in Virginia. Geo is very excited to be a part of the Hornstein program and to use the skills he learns here to help spread the love and knowledge of Israel throughout the American Jewish community. In his spare time, Geo plays bass in he Celtic/Gypsy/Klezmer rock band, The Great Whiskey Rebellion, an act for which he has been awarded a (non-metaphorical) key to the (metaphorical) gates of Worcester.
Jason Pressberg (MA/MBA) is originally from Yorktown Heights, NY and graduated from Elon University with a BA in Religious Studies. Jason has worked for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life for the past six years, splitting time between Tulane, Harvard and Northeastern Universities. During his summers off, he has worked at the Brandeis Collegiate Institute, JDC Camp Szarvas in Hungary, and served as the boys' head counselor and sports director at independent Jewish summer camps. He has led college students on seventeen trips to Israel and alternative break experiences to New Orleans, Curacao and Argentina. In his free time, he teaches religious school and serves as chair for Entwine, the JDC’s young adult initiative, in Boston.
Yuliya Serebryana (MA/MBA) was born and raised in Dnipropetrovsk,Ukraine. She earned a BA in Intercultural Business Administration at the Lauder School-Vienna International College while simultaneously working at a distance on another bachelor's degree in information technology in her hometown. Yuliya has made a valuable contribution to the daily operations of the Dnipropetrovsk JCC by preparing and implementing children's education programs, as well as their annual family camp. During her three-year stay in Austria, in addition to her studies, Yuliya performed in the Vienna Jewish Choir and interned at the Vienna Jewish Museum, where she helped catalogue rare artifacts. Additionally, during the Summer of 2011, she volunteered at the European Maccabi Games. That same year, Yuliya coordinated a concert tour around Eastern Europe for the Austrian Yiddish musician Roman Grinberg and his klezmer band. Her most challenging achievement was in the position of Venue Accreditation Assistant at UEFA EURO 2012, where she, as a part of the Kyiv Stadium team, worked on the third biggest world event – the European Football Championship. Yuliya is excited to be part of the Brandeis community.
Hannah Sherman (MA/MA) was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills. She attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, earning a BA in American Studies. At UC Santa Cruz, Hannah was active in Hillel and served as a Hebrew tutor. She spent three months of her senior year in college in Washington, D.C. where she was an intern for Jewish Women International, a non-profit organization working to end domestic violence. As an intern, Hannah researched and prepared information for several congressional briefings and wrote many blog posts on issues relating to Judaism and domestic violence. An avid traveler, Hannah has spent many summers abroad, including a trip to Israel in the Summer of 2011. Hannah hopes to combine her fascination with cultural arts with her love of the Jewish community, gaining experience in order to work in a Jewish cultural institution.
Dina Shvetsov (MA/MPP) was born in Ryazan, Russia, and earned a BA and MA in Politics at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. She spent part of her childhood in Israel and considers this to be a defining experience for her personal and professional goals. Dina worked as a political analyst and policy maker on several projects in Russia and Kazakhstan in organizations such as the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Office of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and the Institute for Regional Politics (Moscow, Russia). Working on media analysis of the Moscow Government national policy made her focus her professional goals on pursuing policy making around the issues of Jewish community, such as identification and integration of Russian-speaking Jews into the global Jewish community. She is passionate about Jewish community and hopes to dedicate her career to helping promote its social development.
Larry Tobin (MA/MBA) graduated from Boston University with a BA in Religion. He currently serves as a Major Gifts Officer at Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), Boston's Jewish federation. Larry joined CJP in 2008 to focus on their annual campaign fundraising efforts, specifically working with donors within the financial services industry. Larry continues to manage the Financial Services Group, and additionally focuses half of his time on CJP's Day School Initiative, Birthright Israel, and CJP's own Birthright follow-up program—IACT. Lastly, Larry focuses a great deal on high-potential younger donors and has crafted a strategic philanthropy curriculum for young major donors. Larry lives in Newton with his fiancée, Jesse. In his spare time, he sits on the development committee and chairs the alumni committee of the Rashi School, sits on BU Academy's alumni board, and serves as a mentor through YearUp. Larry is an avid Red Sox fan; he attends about 25 games per year and most of BC's basketball games.
Noah Zaves (MA/MBA) is a Jewish educator from the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis on informal and experiential education. He earned a BA in Jewish American History at Willamette University and has spent 15 summers at Camp Tawonga, most recently as Program Director and Jewish Educator. In his free time, Noah is a popular song leader, combining Judaism and music to create innovative adult services, and DJing at occasional weddings, bar mitzvahs, and parties. Noah is the director and lead educator of the Institute for Modern Judaism, presenting workshops on identity, culture, and leadership for teens and adults around the country. He also consults for Jewish schools and organizations, helping them make their lessons and programs more engaging and interactive. Noah is a trained facilitator of the "Living the Legacy" curriculum from the Jewish Women's Archive and, in 2007, he was a Cornerstone Fellow with the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
Second-Year Students
Julie Aronowitz (BA/MA) spent the past year at Yeshivat Hadar in New York and Mechon Pardes in Jerusalem, learning how the Rabbis endeavored to build a just society. Previously, Julie had spent several years in Boston, first as a fellow with the Jewish Organizing Initiative, and later as the Young Adult Social Justice Coordinator at the Jewish Community Relations Council in Boston. While at JCRC, she facilitated the creation of Reach Out!, a community service and community building program, and brought Jewish young adults into campaign work with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, addressing such issues as access to higher education and credit card interest rates. Julie has also been actively involved with the Moishe/Kavod Social Justice House, where she helped to develop communal vision, infrastructure, and programs, and served on the inaugural board of directors. Julie was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Brandeis University with a BA in Sociology. Her vision is to build the leadership and capacity of Jewish communities to be effective and powerful internally, and to effect grassroots social change. Julie has been named a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar.
Ira Blum (MA/MA) earned a BA in Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College and is very proud to be a part of the Brandeis-Hornstein community. Born and raised outside of Philadelphia, Ira has worked in a variety of formal and informal Jewish educational capacities, including teaching at religious and Hebrew school programs, participating on the executive board of his college Hillel, and as staff at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. Before enrolling at Brandeis, Ira staffed Kivunim: New Directions, a gap year program for North American high school graduates, who studied co-existence and world Jewry in Jerusalem, and then visited ten countries over the course of ten months. He looks forward to increasing his learning of informal Jewish educational models and strategies, as well as studying topics of Jewish identity among a cohort of current and future Jewish leaders.
Matt Brown (MA/MPP) is excited to return to his alma mater (BA Classical Studies and History) to focus on communal Jewish education after a few years of working at the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) in marketing communications. Matt's goal is to help make it more accessible and affordable. Growing up immersed in the Los Angeles Jewish community, Matt was fortunate enough to experience each manifestation of communal Jewish education: day school, supplementary school, summer camp, youth group, and a teen Israel trip. Since graduating he has been involved with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston's young-adult community service program, ReachOut! Matt's passion can be traced to a line from the TV show The West Wing: "You want to be the guy the guy counts on."
Yana Drozdovski (MA/MBA) was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and made Aliyah with her family in the 1990's when she was five years old. After serving for 2 years in the Israeli Intelligence forces, she attended Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva where she graduated with a BA in Management and Sociology and Anthropology. During her senior year, Yana escorted Birthright participants from New York and became passionate about the Jewish world outside of Israel. Upon graduation, Yana decided to spend a year abroad working as the Israel Program Coordinator at Brooklyn College Hillel in New York. She worked with students from a wide spectrum of backgrounds engaging them in leadership and advocacy programs and strengthening their connection to Israel. The following summer she served as a unit head in the "Chavura" program at camp Tel Yehudah where she worked with teenagers and counselors of Russian backgrounds. Yana aspires to work in organizations that have a goal of connecting Jewish populations around the world.
Dara Freedman-Weiss (MA/MBA) earned a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Rochester. She has worked for many Jewish non-profit organizations including JCCs, Hillels, synagogues, religious schools, and summer camps in Rochester, NY (where she was born), Philadelphia (where she also grew up) and San Francisco. She began graduate work in Jewish Philosophy at Boston University where she also worked as the Hillel/KOACH Graduate Intern designing leadership training workshops for Jewish undergraduates. Dara spent a year studying at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, where she immersed herself in Jewish texts and Hebrew. Dara's ultimate goal is to work in organizations that engage in outreach, programming, and education in order to encourage participation in and connection to Judaism, Israel and the Jewish community. Dara hopes to continue her life-long Jewish learning as well as to incorporate her passion for Judaic studies, Israel and education into her future career.
Melissa Goraj (MA/MBA), is passionate about bringing strong accounting and financial management practices to the Jewish nonprofit sector to help organizations more efficiently achieve their missions. Melissa has worked as a graduate accounting intern in two Jewish nonprofits in the Greater Boston area and has developed skills in budgeting, internal auditing, and fixed asset management. Melissa is also enrolled in the Bentley Graduate Certificate of Accountancy program and plans to sit for the CPA exam in the fall of 2013. She is a native of Mt. Holly, Vermont and graduated cum laude from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Philosophy and English. Melissa became inspired to work in the Jewish community while studying abroad at theHebrew University of Jerusalem in 2010. Before attending Hornstein, she worked as a Masa Israel intern and as an Engagement and Marketing assistant at Jvillage Network in Burlington, VT.
Jeffrey Hast (MA/MBA) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to his BA in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, he received a certificate in Children's Literature. He spent the previous year in Israel on a year-long program called OTZMA, living in various cities in the north and south, volunteering in many different social and educational settings. Jeff is planning to pursue a career in the Jewish camping world after spending the previous fifteen summers at Camp Ramah Daromin Clayton, GA. While at camp, he has been a unit head for fourth, fifth, and eleventh graders, a counselor for many years, and a hockey teacher. After a few years considering entering the formal education field, Jeff's camp and Israel experiences have led him to Brandeis to become a camp director.
Ira Krakhman (MA/MA) left balmy California where, for the past four years, she had been building a home in the Jewish community of the San Francisco Bay Area. Her most recent role was as coordinator for a fundraising and development team at the Jewish Agency for Israel. Previously, she partnered with the Jewish Agency emissary to the Bay Area Russian Jews, laying foundations for communal engagement and stewardship among her Russian Jewish peers – a charismatic community known as Mishmash. For the past two years, as both professional and volunteer, she has taken great interest in the program's strategic development. Ira's vision is to see the Bay Area Russian Jewish community raise its unique presence through grass-roots innovation and creative engagement of local resources, including local funding sources. Ira's Jewish quest began when she woke up one morning and found herself in Jerusalem where she spent 2006-2007 learning and volunteering. Formerly an English teacher, Ira holds a BA in English from Skidmore College and an MEd from Arcadia University. She immigrated from Odessa, Ukraine in 1990. Ira is a recipient of a Brandeis Genesis Institute scholarship for Russian-speaking Jews.
Dan Lange (MA/MBA) is a filmmaker, a Jewish educator, a camp guy, and a whole lot more. While at the University of Southern California earning his BA in Cinematic Arts, Dan produced a myriad of films, screening shorts at the Sundance Film Festival and others around the country. After completing his degree, Dan spent time working in the film industry before making the decision to turn a lifelong passion for Jewish informal education into a career. He has spent 21 years in Jewish summer camping and is passionate about the field and about creating Jewish community amongst children and teenagers. Dan spent three years working as the Youth Director at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA before beginning his studies at Brandeis. In addition to his role as a full-time student, Dan is the Associate Director of NFTY Convention, a bi-annual gathering of 1,000 Reform Jewish teens from around the United States. He was born and raised in northern New Jersey and loves geocaching and attempting to see every movie that is released (even the bad ones). Dan is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar.
Tslil Shtulsaft (MA/MBA) was born on a kibbutz in Israel's Western Galilee and raised on Long Island, N.Y. Majoring in History at SUNY Buffalo, Tslil served as the AEPi chapter president where he helped create a sustainable infrastructure for the fraternity during its early years. Upon graduation, Tslil served as the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow at Indiana University's Hillel where he focused his efforts on over 3,000 "unengaged" Jewish students. It was at IU that Tslil realized his passion for working with the Jewish non-profit world. For the past two years, Tslil has worked as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Programs at Congregation Beth Israel, Vancouver's largest conservative synagogue. Most recently, Tslil completed the Pardes Institute Summer Educators Tract program in Jerusalem, where he focused his time learning traditional Jewish texts. Beginning in the fall of 2011, Tslil will be living at the Moishe Kavod house in Boston which strives to create community building and social action opportunities for Boston's young adult population. Tslil is an avid traveler and has spent time all over Asia and the Middle East.
Daniel Shulman (MA/MBA) Before entering Queens College, where he earned a BA in Political Science, Daniel spent a year and a half in a Jerusalem Yeshiva studying religious law and learning about the various cultures of Israel. During his undergraduate years, Daniel was very active in the campus Hillel as well as the local AEPi Chapter. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Campus Ministers' Scholarship for fostering good will between the various religious groups on campus. After graduation, Daniel moved to Nashville, TN to work for the campus Hillel at Vanderbilt University. There he worked to develop Jewish student leadership through shared, immersive, and volunteer experiences, engagement, and a love for Israel. As an advisor, the students of the Vanderbilt AIPAC Cadre took home the Campus Cadre of the Year award for consistently going above and beyond. Daniel is passionate about working with unaffiliated Jews and finding ways for them to connect back to their roots.
Yana Tolmacheva (MA/MBA) emigrated from Moscow and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She earned a BA in Psychology from Hunter College. During her undergraduate years, Yana worked at several nonprofits, including JCC Manhattan and Jewish National Fund. Upon graduation, she participated in BCI and spent ten months in Israel, first as a MASA participant and then as a program coordinator for Oranim. Her first trip to Israel was in 2006 with Taglit-Birthright and, since then, she has returned every year. Completing RAJE (Russian American Jewish Experience), a 10-week Jewish leadership fellowship, and Hillel Alternative Break in Netanya, solidified her decision to pursue a professional career in the Jewish community. She has studied abroad in Argentina and participated in an exchange program in Spain. Since coming to Boston, Yana has worked at the Anti-Defamation League. Currently an iCenter fellow, Yana hopes to combine her passion for Israel and education to implement innovative programs in the Jewish communal sector.