Jonah Steinberg Named Next Executive Director of Harvard Hillel

Updated: June 23 at 1:50 p.m. | Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg will serve as Harvard Hillel’s next executive director, the president of Hillel’s Undergraduate Steering Committee announced on Wednesday.

Steinberg, an associate dean at Hebrew College, was part of the founding faculty of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Born and raised in Canada, Steinberg will take the position left by Bernard Steinberg, of no relation to Jonah Steinberg, who stepped down from the post last year.

"My aim is for Harvard Hillel to be on the personal maps of many different people in many meaningful ways, and on the map of the Harvard community and the wider world as an institution that showcases the Jewish tradition of daring to engage with the great issues and ideas of the day," he said in an email.

A committee composed of members of Hillel’s Board of Directors led the search for a new executive director following Bernard Steinberg’s announcement of his resignation last October. The committee and a firm that assisted in the search solicited input from Hillel’s membership and was able “to make a shidduch between us and Jonah” Steinberg, Arun A. Viswanath '13, the president of the Undergraduate Steering Committee, said in an email to Hillel’s undergraduate members.

“We should be proud of ourselves at this very exciting time,” Viswanath wrote. “We should also recognize that the next few years will play an important role in deciding the direction of Harvard Hillel.”

Jonah Steinberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University and has since worked in various roles, ranging from an emergency room medical assistant in Israel to the leader of the Rabbinic Literature and Civilization program at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pa.

—Staff writer Leanna B. Ehrlich can be reached at lehrlich@college.harvard.edu.

This article was revised to reflect the following correction.

CORRECTION: June 23, 2011

An earlier version of the June 22 article "Jonah Steinberg Named Next Executive Director of Harvard Hillel" incorrectly stated that Steinberg was part of the founding faculty of Hebrew College. He is part of the founding faculty of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, he said in an email.