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Jump to: UNC Hillel | Hillel @ NC State | NC Hillel Link
Hannah Spinrad
Executive Director
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Prior to joining the Hillel movement, Hannah was the Atlanta Director of Community Engagement for Honeymoon Israel, a national start-up providing immersive Israel experiences and locally-based community for young couples. Hannah has also worked in the development departments for the Jewish Federations of Boston, Miami, and Atlanta. Hannah is a proud Tar Heel alumna, graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in International Studies and minors in Spanish and Jewish Studies. Hannah earned her MBA in Nonprofit Management and MA in Jewish Professional Leadership from the Hornstein-Heller Program at Brandeis University. She is also an alumna of the Jewish Federations of North America FEREP Program. A fifth generation North Carolinian, Hannah lives with her husband Kyle and daughters Miriam and Noa in Chapel Hill.
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Maya Arber
Marketing & Development Manager
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Maya is an American-Israeli originally from Rockville, Maryland. With a strong Jewish and Israeli upbringing, she has always felt her professional calling in the Jewish world. Maya holds a B.A. in Human Development & Family Studies, with a Minor in Psychology, from the University of Delaware, and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Reichman University in Israel. Maya’s experience outside of Hillel has been focused in the non-profit sector, serving as the International Recruiter and Marketing Director for Kol Ami Mechina, a gap year program under the Jewish Agency in Israel and Masa, for the last seven years. Through her fundraising and donor stewardship work, Maya looks forward to supporting Jewish students in North Carolina as she enters her second year at Hillel International, and her first year at North Carolina Hillel. When she isn’t in the office, you can find Maya baking challah, traveling, or hunting down a new local coffee shop.
Hometown: Rockville, MD
Max Weinberg
Managing Director
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Max joined the NC Hillel team in January of 2020, supporting the organization in its operations and financial tasks. In August 2023, Max assumed the role of Managing Director, working with all of our campuses on their engagement strategy and vision, budgeting, and statewide programming.
Prior to his time at NC Hillel, Max was the Senior Assistant Director at URJ Camp Kalsman in Seattle, WA, and spent the previous seven summers at URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, WI, including two as Assistant Director. Max is a graduate of the Foundation for Jewish Camp's Yitro Fellowship, where he worked with camp professionals from across North America on staff recruitment, supervision, and engagement. Max loved connecting with the staff at camp, and now loves engaging with college students year-round! Max graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Elementary Education. He spent a semester teaching 6th grade and coaching softball in Chicago Public Schools while finishing his degree. In his free time, you can find him watching baseball (Go Mets!), hiking, or cooking. Hometown: Highland Park, IL
Allyson Tazbin (she/her/hers) is a proud native of Westfield, New Jersey. She graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) with a BS in Early Childhood and Special Education, where she was actively involved with the Hillel and served as its president in her senior year. After graduation, Allyson found her place in the Jewish nonprofit world, joining the Brandeis University Hillel team. She began as the IACT Coordinator and later advanced to the role of IACT Director of Community and Israel Experiences. In this position, Allyson helped expand Brandeis Hillel's Israel education offerings, including learning fellowships, career fairs, and travel opportunities to Israel. As the niece of three Tar Heels, Allyson is thrilled to join the Chapel Hill Hillel community. In her free time, she enjoys practicing yoga, running, cooking vegetarian meals, and painting. Allyson is excited to meet everyone and contribute to Chapel Hill Hillel’s growth and impact!
Hometown: Westfield, New Jersey
Ben Partushe is a fellow at the Jewish Agency of Israel in his first year at UNC Hillel. He grew up in the city of Kiryat Ono, in the center Israel, where he studied in a religious school, served in the army for three years as a combat soldier, and continued to work as a personal trainer for ten years. He has had the privilege of working with many types of people over his career. After a few years, Ben realized that he wanted to develop personal training further and now is finishing his degree in physical education while working as a physical education teacher and JAFI fellow. Ben is excited about doing the work. The best part is to connect with as many students as possible and encourage them to get to know beautiful Israel and the Jewish religion.
Hometown: Kiryat Ono, Israel
A recent graduate from the University of Virginia with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Jewish Studies, Rayna is joining UNC Chapel Hill Hillel as the new Springboard Fellow. Throughout her college experience, she was involved in Hillel and Chabad at UVA, leading Shabbat services, participating and organizing discussion groups, and taking part in Birthright and Onward Israel. Upon graduation, she was awarded the 2023 Samuel and Evelyn Linden Prize for Excellence in the Study of Judaism and Justice. She also has experience teaching Religious and Hebrew school at Congregations Beth Israel in Charlottesville, VA and Olam Tikvah in Fairfax, VA. Rayna is looking forward to exploring Chapel Hill and seeing what Jewish life is like in the area. In her free time, she likes to paint, spend time outdoors, and do crossword and sudoku puzzles.
Hometown: Fairfax, VA
Sarah Gindes
Campus Director
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Sarah Gindes is originally from Indianapolis, IN, where she earned her BA from the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. Soon after moving to Durham in 2014, she joined Jewish for Good (formerly known as Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill) as their Development Events Manager. Sarah happily grew there for the past six years, while also taking on nonprofit consulting clients as a Jewish communal professional. Being a lifelong student, Sarah earned her certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University in 2017 and is currently enrolled at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership for her Masters in Jewish Studies (graduation March 2022). Sarah looks forward to co-creating community and a culture of engagement at NC State with an open door. Sarah and her husband have three children at the Lerner Jewish Community Day School (ages 4, 6, and 8), where she has been an active volunteer with their Parent Association. Sarah enjoys photography, hiking, discovering new places, and cooking.
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Jane Lebowitz
Springboard Fellow
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Jane Lebowitz is a recent alumni of Albany Law School, where she obtained her Master's degree in Human Resource Law with thesis level research in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy. She is also an alumni of the University of Rochester, where she completed Bachelor of Arts degrees Political Science and Jewish Studies. Before joining the NC State Hillel team, Jane worked as a sommelier in Saratoga Springs, NY and received her education in fine wine, food, and luxury hospitality through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. Jane is a "people person", whose passion in life is to create spaces in which others can feel welcomed, uplifted, and advocated for.
Hometown: Saratoga Springs, NY
Ginny Vellani
Director
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Ginny Vellani previously serving as Acting Director at Elon Hillel. At Elon, she helped lead the community’s growth as it doubled in size, opened a permanent building on campus, and expanded to include a historically Jewish fraternity, an Israel advocacy and dialogue club, and a chapter of Challah for Hunger. Her work has emphasized immersive experiences and off-campus opportunities, including Birthright Israel, teaching a month-long Holocaust Studies course in Europe, and traveling with students to interfaith leadership conferences across the country. Ginny is a member of the Weinberg Accelerate Executive Training Program’s fourth cohort. She has a B.A. in Religious Studies from Agnes Scott College, a M.A. in Jewish-Christian Studies from Seton Hall University, and also studied at the University of Haifa’s International School. A proud native North Carolinian, she currently lives in Greensboro with her husband and son.
Hometown: Mebane, NC
Ask me about: Link campuses and how to support your Jewish student
My alma mater's mascot: Scotties
Fun fact: I'm an Italian citizen
Hagar Landau
Engagement Associate
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Hagar Landau is a Los Angeles native and comes from a large, loud Israeli family. She recently earned her BA in Sociology with a minor in philosophy from Boston University. During her time in undergrad, Hagar served many roles as a Hillel student leader including as an IACT intern and founding member of BU's fighting hate and antisemitism internship. Hagar is very excited to begin her role working with NC Link and cannot wait to meet and work with all of the amazing student leaders on each of the Link campuses.
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Ask me about: Finding Jewish community at UNC Charlotte, Appalachian State, and UNC Asheville!
My alma mater's mascot: Boston Terrier
Fun fact: I can count to 10 in seven different languages!
Rebekah Green
Engagement Associate
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Rebekah Green is excited to start her professional career as NC Link Campus Hillel’s Engagement Associate. Rebekah is originally from Columbia Maryland. She recently earned her Bachelors of Science in Psychology with a minor in theater from Nova Southern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Rebekah was very involved in her own campuses hillel holding multiple board positions including; engagement ambassador, president, and engagement intern. Rebekah is so excited about working for NC Link Hillel campuses and can not wait to see what her future holds in North Carolina.
Hometown: Columbia, MD
Ask me about: Link campuses
My alma mater's mascot: Shark
Fun fact: I've been to Disney World more than 20 times
