Esther Baranov is a sophomore in the College, planning to major in Neurobiology. She was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel until she came to Wynnewood, PA when she was nine. She loves to run, sing loudly the incorrect lyrics to songs, and drink outrageous amounts of tea. Esther hopes to travel a lot when she has the time and money, after med school of course. She certainly has many years of school ahead of her, but for now she’s enjoying the college experience of meeting new people and trying new things. Although she’s never had a formal Jewish education, she is excited to question, understand, and embrace her Jewish heritage with JRP Fellows.
Keira Ginsburg is from Somers (home of the first circus and an hour north of the rest of), New York. Still undecided with majors, she is a sophomore in the College interested for now in history, psychology, and fine arts. Keira is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and volunteers with the Ronald McDonald House. She loves music and is constantly in search for nearby concerts. Keira enjoys ballet, Italian food, the beach, and egg salad. She is excited about JRP this year and being surrounded by others who are ready to explore “being Jewish” today together.
Mady Glickman is a sophomore from Princeton, NJ. Here’s what you need to know about her: She might be majoring in English with Creative Writing and she loves writing about anything. She performs many a mitzvah around town by doing community service, and has been down to New Orleans four times to repair houses since Katrina. Ms. Glickman calls NOLA her favorite city, which is hard to believe since Princeton is known for being a wild, thrilling, cultural hub. She loves to cook and especially loves to eat. At first glance, this girl doesn’t look very Jewish with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a button nose, but ask her about Humanistic Judaism and that’ll get her going. She’s very excited about being a JRP fellow and working with the rest of the group to discuss all that Judaism has to offer.
Ben Helfman:
Shalom. Benjamin Elias Helfman is a senior in the College majoring in history and minoring in psychology.
He enjoys fasting, Klezmer music, breaking fast with chopped liver, and manischewitz. L'chaim.
Brittany Horvath:
I am a junior student in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania from Buffalo, New York. As a nursing student minoring in global health studies, I hope to work as a nurse internationally improving healthcare in different cultures. I am a byproduct of a multi-religious family and was not given the opportunity to go to Hebrew or Jewish day school. Missing out on these opportunities growing-up has am made me eager to learn more about Judaism. I am very excited to be a part of JRP fellows and hope not only to learn more about my own Jewish faith, but to gain the skills to facilitate meaningful Jewish discussions with the people around me.
Ross Kessler:
I’m a senior studying Electrical Engineering and submatriculating intoPenn’s engineering graduate school. I was born and raised in Philly but my parents recently moved to south Jersey. I spend a lot of my time hanging out with my friends playing video games or Poker. I am very active in the Engineering community as I am TAing a junior level electrical and systems engineering class and am on the executive board of my co-ed engineering fraternity, Theta Tau. When it comes to JRP I am really interesting in some of the more philosophical questions regarding modern Judaism and its impact on practical everyday life.
Michael Pechman has spent the past twenty years of his life exploring his Jewish identity, most of the time elbow-deep in a jar of gefilte fish while jamming out to Matisyahu. Bust seriously folks, Michael is very excited for the opportunity to learn more about Judaism, his fellow fellows, as well as himself. Michael is a junior in the Wharton school who is a Management 100 TA and the Vice President of his fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi. Michael is probably your typical Jew from New York, he enjoys the Giants and Yankees, bagels with extra lox and of course, a nice cold glass of kosher wine. Michael is thrilled with the group of young Hebrews and shebrews that he will be working with this year and he can’t wait to get started!
Rachel Romeo is relatively new to this thing called Judaism, as she was raised as the relatively confused Christian kid in a half Southern Baptist, half Conservative Jewish home, smack-dab in the middle of the Tennessee Bible Belt (which has about one Jew per square mile). But this has only made finding her Jewish identity all the more exciting in her northern trek to Penn. Rachel is a junior in the college, majoring in Psychology and Linguistics, but spends most of her time in Penn's world of performing arts, serving as the assistant director of Bloomers, Penn’s (and the nation’s) only all-female musical/sketch comedy troupe, and as the chair of SMAC-- Singers, Musicians and Comedians committee on the Performing Arts Council (humor her, she thinks she's funny). You can also find Rachel sweeping madly on the Penn Curling team, tutoring 3rd graders who deem her a lost cause at rapping and hip hop, and maybe if you're lucky, you might even find her sleeping....rarely.
Madeleine Schnur is a senior psychology major. She grew up with her two brothers in a conservative Jewish household in Richmond, Virginia. She plays bass guitar for Bloomers Band, leads campus tours, and served as president of Penn’s Jewish-Latino alliance, Alianza, for 3 semesters. Madeleine has a serious case of wanderlust and has lived abroad in Spain, Brazil, France and Switzerland, and speaks Spanish, Galician, French, Portuguese, and English. She hopes to add Hebrew to the list one day and is taking the beginner class with many freshmen who know much more than she does. She enjoys cooking, playing guitar, performing at open mic nights, and reading for pleasure. She also has two frogs, Betty Croaker and Croak Monsieur, who really like when she feeds them.
Alex Witkes: Although he received a more compelling lesson in faith from watching the Red Sox than he did from his Hebrew School, Alex feels a strong connection to his Jewish heritage. This pride was amplified during his trip to Israel last year through Birthright. This memorable experience also served as his introduction to JRP, and it has turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving. He is a junior in Wharton and is nobly studying finance to continue in this proud Jewish legacy. In addition to JRP, Alex plays ice hockey and is in Phi Kappa Sigma. He looks forward to working with the other Fellows this year.
