Rachel Stein, Director of Student Programming

Rachel Stein is a passionate Jewish life educator and excited to return to Nehirim. In 2013, she co-chaired the Nehirim Student Retreat at Boston University. She has spent time working at the University of Michigan Hillel and Hazon. She is a graduate of The George Washington University where she studied psychology and explored the nation’s capital. In her junior year, Rachel traveled most of Israel while studying at the University of Haifa. She is currently pursuing her Master in Social Work at Fordham University. She resides in New York City.

Morris Alper, Student Chair

Morris Alper is a junior at MIT studying linguistics and math, and works at MIT’s TedLab cognitive linguistics laboratory collaborating on research into how the brain processes language. He is the founder of Netivot, a Boston-based group of LGBTQ Jews engaged with traditional Judaism. In addition, Morris is also the current treasurer of MIT Hillel and of the group MIT Queer West, an LGBTQ student group located on MIT’s West Campus. In his free time Morris enjoys bicycling and reading comics in Japanese.

Sam Rubinstein, Student Chair

Sam Rubinstein is studying Economics and Public Policy at Brown University, class of 2017. He is originally from northern New Jersey, where he graduated from a conservative Jewish Day School. Sam attended his first Nehirim event in early 2014, and shortly thereafter took on the role as facilitator of Brown RISD JewQ, a confidential space for Jewish LGBTQ+ members of the community at Brown and RISD to explore their identities. Sam is elated that Brown will host this year’s leadership conference, and is working overtime to ensure it is beneficial and enjoyable for all who attend! He enjoys exploring the ways in which Jewish and Queer identities are intertwined, and questioning what it means to be a member of the Jewish LGBT community. When not organizing on campus, he is an avid runner.

Rabbi Dani Pasow

Dani Passow is the Orthodox Rabbi at Harvard Hillel and a Harvard University Chaplain. Prior to starting at Harvard, Dani served as assistant campus Rabbi at Columbia University Hillel and as rabbinic intern at Congregation Shaare Tefillah in Newton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Cooper Union’s engineering school and formerly a researcher in chemistry and bio-engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Dani has studied in a number of yeshivot in Israel, including Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshivat Maale Gilboa and received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Dani served as rabbinic consultant for the Sukkah City design competition in Union Square in the fall of 2010 and from 2010-211 directed the Tav HaYosher— a non-profit program of Uri L’Tzedek, which certifies and promotes kosher eating establishments that treat employees fairly. He lectures and writes frequently about Judaism and social justice and was awarded the 2010 Whizin Prize for Jewish ethics

Dr. Howard Heller

Howard Heller, MD attended the Orthodox day school Yeshiva Rabbi Moses Soloveichik and Yeshiva University High School (MTA) in the same neighborhood of Washington Heights where he grew up. After venturing 5 miles south to attend Columbia University he finally made it out of New York City to attend medical school in Syracuse NY. He now serves as the Associate Medical Director of the MIT Medical Department where he practices primary care medicine specializing in Infectious Diseases and is on staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He lives in Cambridge with his partner.

Rabbi Barry Dollinger

Rabbi Barry Dollinger is a member of the RCA, and has served at Congregation Beth Sholom in Providence RI since 2011, where he also practices law. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his B.A., and received his J.D. from Fordham Law School in 2011. He also attended the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, affiliated with Yeshiva University, where he received Semicha in 2011. In 2013, he gained notoriety for testifying in favor of same-sex marriage at the Rhode Island statehouse, bringing him into conflict with other members of the Orthodox synagogue. Since then, he has continued to be an impassioned advocate for LGBT rights. His other interests include percussion, tennis, politics, and jogging.

Joyce Kauffman

Joyce Kauffman is a 1992 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and a 1981 graduate of Lesley University, with a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She is a trained Mediator and Collaborative Lawyer. Her practice focuses exclusively on family law, with an emphasis on issues impacting the LGBT community. On brief in Adoption of Tammy, the Massachusetts case that secured the right for same-sex couples to adopt, Attorney Kauffman also represented the first lesbian couple in Massachusetts to obtain a birth certificate without benefit of adoption upon the birth of their child, conceived through IVF using the eggs of one of the women but born to the other woman. She has represented a number of families who have successfully obtained three-parent adoptions. Since Goodridge and the beginning of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Attorney Kauffman has represented a number of individuals in same-sex divorces.

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz officiates at Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough, MA and worked previously at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport, CT. In Bridgeport, she created innovative ways to reach the unaffiliated population, expanded opportunities for women’s worship, created new formats for adult learning, and developed new early childhood programs. Rabbi Gurevitz was also active in interfaith activities ion the Bridgeport area. B’nai Israel’s Caring Committee expanded their offerings under her leadership and a Caring Network was conceived and created by her. Rabbi Gurevitz was ordained from Hebrew Union College in 2006. She received her doctorate in Cultural Geography from University College London in 1999. Her wife, Rabbi Suri Krieger, officiates at Chavura Beth Chai in Westchester, NY