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Hillel leader wants to make a difference

Rachel Gartner is the first female rabbi at Miami’s Hillel Foundation.

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By Elizabeth Hagedorn, Contributing Writer 1:41 PM Thursday, September 17, 2009

Rabbi Rachel Gartner is the new executive director and first female rabbi at the Hillel Foundation at Miami University.

Gartner is also the first rabbi in many years to be the director at the Hillel Foundation. This means Hillel will now offer Shabbat services at the Beerman Jewish Student Center to Miami students and all Oxford community members every Friday from 6 to 7 p.m.

“The community is strongly encouraged to come to all of our services. I want to be a resource to everyone is this community,” Gartner said.

Gartner is also the co-author of the nationally acclaimed “Rosh Hodesh: It’s a girl thing! Source Book.”

“The book is a leader’s guide for monthly meetings of Jewish teenage girls across the country. It puts Jewish traditions in conversation with hot topics for teenage girls ranging from body image to relationships to substance use,” Gartner said.

Gartner comes to Hillel after working as a Rabbi in the department of Campus Ministries at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. since 2007. She was also an instructor in the Jewish Studies Department at Earlham.

Before her time in Indiana, Gartner was an assistant rabbi at Bnai Keshet in New Jersey for three years and lived in Israel for two years. Gartner graduated from Barnard College in 1992 and graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2002.

Gartner has lived in Oxford for about a year with her husband David and 3-year-old son Ruben. Her husband is a visiting creative writing professor at Earlham College and his job is what brought her family to the Midwest.

“We have lived in New York and Philadelphia where there is a big Jewish community. It is a big shift coming to the Midwest, but I am delighted to be here,” Gartner said.

Gartner was looking for a full-time job after taking some time off after the birth of her son when she heard about the position at Hillel. Gartner said she loves living in Oxford because of the community feeling and beautiful atmosphere.

“There is a Jewish word ‘beshert’ which means ‘meant to be.’ When I got the position I felt like it was beshert because I loved being in Oxford,” Gartner said.

Gartner said that Hillel is a nice fit for her because she is part of the Reconstructionist movement that is about understanding Judaism to be a civilization that emphasizes religion, ethics, culture, arts, music and language.

“Hillel is starting to ask the big questions like purpose and vocation. They are helping students discern what is important to them, how they want to live their lives, and contributions they want to make. I like working with Hillel because these are the things that jazz me up and this is how I find meaning,” Gartner said.

Gartner said that the Hillel foundation reaches about two-thirds of the Jewish student population at Miami. Now that she is director, she is working on increasing this number. Gartner wants to help students get involved in every aspect of the Jewish civilization.

“My job will be completed when every Jewish student’s life is touched in some way by Hillel,” Gartner said.

High Holy Days 2009

Rosh Hashanah

Erev Rosh Hashanah

Friday September 18

Services at Sesquicentennial Chapel, 7 p.m.

Rosh Hashanah Morning

Saturday, September 19

Services at Sesquicentennial Chapel, 10 a.m.

Rosh Hashanah Morning-Second Day

Sunday September 20

Services at Hillel, 10 a.m.