Staff

Rabbi Mike is a confused and passionate Jew. He has spent time in all of the denominations and he is most comfortable talking with people who are not quite sure what they believe. Mike is originally from Cleveland, but has lived in NY, Chicago and Jerusalem. He is married to Leora Eisenstadt, an amazing lawyer in town. Outside of working with Penn students, Mike likes to bike and hike and listen to bad music (think Bon Jovi).

Debbie Yunker thinks that Judaism is fascinating and is curious what YOU think.  During the day, you might find Debbie mentoring and advising student leaders, getting to know awesome Penn students, working on the pennhillel.org website, or chatting with young alumni. Originally from Framingham, MA (the largest town in MA!), Debbie lived all over the country before descending upon Philadelphia in the summer of 2006.   She studied psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA; worked at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University in St. Louis, and received an M. A. in Higher Education Administration from New York University, where she also worked in residential life and fraternity/sorority life.   That's right.  Debbie can't stay away from college!  When she does pull herself away from the college campus every so often, Debbie can be found supporting the local food movement (buying, cooking, and eating!), running, exploring Philly, and traveling. 

Josh loves to ride his bike in between: trying to live a maximally Jewish life, completing his final year at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, cooking dinner for his poet wife, Natalie, meditating on the depths of the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), performing weddings, planning parties, composting, cleaning up after three cats, and making sure all peoples of Philadelphia are being cared for and encouraged with hope. But most of all, he wants to meet YOU, and hear about what’s keeping you so busy!

Rachel is excited to return to Penn after getting her M.S.Ed. in Jewish Education here in 2009.  She is originally from Altoona, PA, home of the world's oldest working wooden roller coaster (although her fear of heights has prevented her from riding it...yet).  Rachel had a wonderful undergrad experience at The George Washington University, and has also studied at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.  In addition to Penn students, Rachel LOVES Camp Ramah in the Poconos, ping pong, reality television, and she is always willing to debate the pros and cons of DC vs. Philly living.

Rabbi Jonathan Shulman is the Director of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at the University of Pennsylvania and the Orthodox Rabbi of Penn Hillel. 

He received his BA in Foreign Affairs from The University of Virginia, and, during his studies at Yeshivat Mir, he received his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa. He is currently a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).  Prior to working for the OU at Penn, Rabbi Shulman served as the director for the Overseas Learning Program at the Afikim Jewish Center at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has held teaching positions at Yeshivat Shvilei Hatorah and Yeshivat Torat Chayim in Jerusalem. He served as a rabbinic intern with Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, receiving individual training in pastoral counseling, communal work and ceremony. Rabbi Shulman has also worked in international development in northern India, restaurant management and development, and is an Iyengar yoga instructor.

In his time at Penn, Rabbi Shulman (or "Rav Jonathan" as he is affectionately known by students) has brought energy, passion, and openness to Jewish life on campus. He teaches a variety of classes including in-depth Talmud, bible, and Jewish law. He learns with dozens of individual students weekly in personal one-to-one sessions, and his Shabbat table is always full with undergraduates, graduate students and community members from across the Penn community. Additionally, Rabbi Shulman serves as the posek, ritual official and personal caregiver for the over 400 person orthodox community at Penn. 

He is originally from Washington, DC and now lives with his wife Jenny and two children Eliyahu and Chana in Philadelphia, PA.

Jenny is the OU/JLIC educator at Penn. Jenny graduated from Harvard in 1999 and went to work as a community organizer in Boston. In 2002 she came to Jerusalem on a Dorot fellowship which enabled her to study at Nishmat for the year while continuing her community organizing work in Israel. In 2004 Jenny began her Master's degree in public policy at Hebrew University, concentrating on the effect of citizen participation in Israeli democracy. Jenny continued on at Hebrew University as a doctoral candidate in public policy and will be affiliated this coming year as a Research Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School's Program on Inequality and Social Policy, and with the Annenberg School at Penn. Jenny is married to Jonathan and the mother of Eliyahu (5) and Chana (2), and is very excited to be at Penn!

Sharona was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel.  After 6 years of theater studies during high school,  she join the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and taught emergency protection strategies to children and civilians in conflict areas.  When she finished her army service, she left Tel Aviv and studied at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev.  During her time in university, Sharona also worked as a guide at Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, educating about Ben-Gurion’s dream of reviving the Jewish home land in Eretz Israel and strengthening Israel’s ties to World Jewry and the non-Jewish world. As an Israeli fellow at Penn Hillel she is excited to bring the Israel she loves to the campus and to have open and deep discussions about Israel's place in American Jewish student life. 

Greta is psyched to be joining the Jewish community at Penn! Totally into her home state, North Carolina, Greta stuck around to go to college at UNC- go Heels! Since then, Greta has lived in Israel, where she staffed Nativ College Leadership Program and won fame as the program- wide sufganiya (jelly doughnut) eating contest champion, and in St. Louis where she recently completed a Masters in Social Work at Wash U. Greta is passionate about social justice and can’t wait to hear how you want to be involved in Repairing the World!

Joan Bobroff has been at Penn Hillel for over 8 years. Not only is she the office manager of Penn Hillel, supervising over 10 work study students each year, Joan also makes sure all the computers and networks in the building are always up and running. When she is not at Hillel she is an avid gardener, growing lots of tomatoes in the summers and slowly redoing the gardens around her home in the fall. Joan is married to Steven and is the mother of two grown children. Her son Jeff is a police officer in New York City and her daughter Meredith is an acupuncturist practicing in the Philadelphia area. Joan and Steve have adopted a rescue dog named Barkley and spend most of their free time training him.