Although Hannah Rosenberg went to college to study archaeology, she has spent her entire professional career working for Hillel.
Growing up attending a Reform synagogue in Connecticut, Rosenberg said some of her favorite memories were going to Friday night Shabbat services with her parents and sisters and then going out for pizza afterwards.
“Judaism was a very living and breathing thing in our home,” she said.
Rosenberg explained that a driving force of her Judaism was her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who was in Auschwitz.
“I think that also really informed my Jewish upbringing, just seeing how much he deeply believed in the future of the Jewish people,” Rosenberg said. “I felt like for him, I would always make Judaism a priority for me.”
Growing up, Rosenberg participated in a program through her synagogue where she spent a summer in Israel.
“Judaism was really showing up everywhere in my life growing up and it’s definitely still that way,” she explained. “It’s not just one thing; it’s kind of everything that I do.”
After graduating from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, there was a position open at the university’s Hillel.
“I remember my very first Shabbat on campus. I talked with a student leader at Shabbat dinner and she just made me feel so welcomed and included and I wanted to be that person for others,” said Rosenberg.
Three years later, a spot opened up at Drexel University’s Hillel and Rosenberg decided to move to Philadelphia.
Today she serves as the assistant director of Hillel at Drexel University and said her favorite part has been working with students.
“It’s absolutely the students. I feel like I’ve seen it so many times when a student walks into the Hillel building or to the Hillel table … and they’re so hesitant, and they don’t really know, ‘am I welcome here? Is this the place for me?’” Rosenberg said. “Then eventually they become the person who’s hosting their own Shabbat dinner or leading programs for their peers. It’s so heartwarming to just be a part of that journey of that moment, that first moment of hesitation, to then living such a proud Jewish life on campus.”
She added, “watching them go from, ‘I’ve only done Shabbat with my family growing up or at Hillel,’ to leading it with such intention is incredibly rewarding. It’s my favorite part of my job.”
While making sure every student feels welcome at the Hillel is a big part of why she does what she does, she said it is also the most challenging part.
“We’re trying to engage all kinds of Jewish students and build a community where everyone feels like there’s a place for them, whether they’re Orthodox, Reform, cultural, questioning and everything in between,” she explained. “When we’re trying to engage everyone, all the students are coming in with very different backgrounds and practices and comfort levels. And just making sure that no students feel like Hillel is not for them is the biggest challenge I face every day.”
“It’s the biggest challenge but it’s also the most rewarding,” added Rosenberg.
Outside of Hillel, Rosenberg and her family are members of Society Hill Synagogue, where they frequent their family Shabbat services. She often hosts other young families for Shabbat in her home in South Philadelphia.