Leah Fein has been the Hillel campus rabbi for the past two years and is already making the community more connected.

“I love being on a college campus because college students are at such a pivotal moment in their lives,” Fein said.

Along with her standard responsibilities as rabbi, such as leading services and interfaith work and educating students, she also focuses on forming social connections with each student. She spends several days a week getting coffee or lunch with students. This social setting is an ideal place to comfortably bond over a shared interest in religion, Fein said.

She attended a Jewish school until eighth grade when she switched to a secular high school. As religion came up often in conversation, she found enjoyment in having these discussions. Answering questions about her religion and educating her peers made Fein want to enroll in rabbinical school.

Fein left her hometown of Los Angeles to attend Brandeis University where she graduated with a degree in International and Global Studies and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.

After her college graduation, she traveled to New York City to earn her rabbinic ordination and a masters’ degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Before coming to Syracuse, she worked in multiple synagogues and other schools, as well as at a hospice in the Bronx, New York.

Almost two years ago, Fein’s husband came to Syracuse to begin medical school, and luckily Syracuse University had an open position for her.

“It’s definitely a balance just because of family, so it also depends on (my husband’s) career because family is really important to me,” Fein said about her plan for the future. “It’s what works best for the both of us.”

Besides Fein’s many other accolades, at the end of the day she is grateful for her job.

“There is no average day for me and that’s what I love about my job,” Fein said.

Published on April 18, 2017 at 10:06 pm

Contact Chloe: cjgreenw@syr.edu