Emily is eager to be joining the Jewish Renaissance Project and the larger Penn community; she couldn’t be more excited to be back on a college campus since she misses her days as an undergrad at Cornell. Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, and then Tampa, Florida, Emily lived in New York City for six years, beginning her career in television (her first job out of college was working for David Letterman!). After her multi-million dollar contract ended, she decided it was time to follow her passions and Emily became the Director of National Programs for Birthright Israel NEXT. She loves spending time with her new husband, swimming, traveling, dachshunds, and frozen yogurt (and will gladly join anyone, anytime for a tour of the Penn fro-yo hotspots!).
Rabbi Joel loves three things – his family (his wife, Julia, and his children [Ella and Kayla]), good food, and the Jewish people. He also loves hip-hop, the West Coast (his personal Homeland), and the great outdoors, but that’s beside the point. Rabbi Joel was recently ordained from Hebrew Union College (the Reform seminary) in Los Angeles and he is excited to be working at Penn, though as a Californian, it's taking him awhile to get used to the East Coast weather. Pick a topic, any topic, related to Judaism, and he’ll be thrilled to discuss it with you.
