UMass Hillel is pleased to announce that Rabbi Alex Goldfarb will be joining its team this summer as its inaugural Hadar Campus Rabbi. This position is the result of a new partnership with the Hadar Institute, a leading center of Jewish life, learning, and practice that builds vibrant egalitarian communities in North America and Israel.

“We’re excited to launch this new partnership with Hadar, which will play an important role in the continued growth of vibrant religious life, dynamic Jewish learning, and caring mentorship at UMass,” said Rabbi Aaron Fine, executive director of UMass Hillel in Amherst. “We look forward to welcoming Rabbi Alex to UMass Hillel and working with him and our students to strengthen Jewish life and community at our flagship state university.”

Rabbi Alex brings a warm, welcoming presence and a genuine enthusiasm for working with college students. His work reflects a strong commitment to Jewish learning, traditional egalitarian practice, and supporting a wide range of Jewish identities within pluralistic communities. He will be ordained this month at Hebrew College and has previously served as a rabbinic intern at Brandeis University and Temple Emanu-El in Providence, as well as a learning guide at Lehrhaus in Somerville. Prior to rabbinical school, he was a social entrepreneur, founding both a sustainable fishing company in the Horn of Africa and a Jewish garden education nonprofit.

As campus rabbi, Rabbi Alex will support student religious communities, teach classes and learning cohorts, mentor student leaders, and serve as a pastoral and spiritual resource for students. He will also partner with senior staff to expand visiting educator programming in the coming year, further strengthening support for students from diverse Jewish backgrounds and practices.

UMass Hillel is deeply grateful to Bradley Philips (UMass ’92), Susan Weiss Firestone and Bill Firestone (UMass ’78), and Jennie Berkson and David Edelstein for their generous leadership support in making this role possible.

To learn more about Jewish life at UMass, go to www.umasshillel.org.