Student Life ArchivesAfter serving at St. Louis Hillel for four years, Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow will be leaving the organization.
Hillel’s impending search for a new rabbi comes in tandem with the organization’s efforts to find a new executive director, a position that has not been filled permanently for one year. Debbie Igienik currently serves as Hillel’s interim executive director.
Orlow cited personal reasons as the cause for his departure, chief among them a desire for his children and his parents-who now live on the East Coast-to be close to each other.
“There are a number of opportunities for me and my family that are too great to pass up on.” Orlow said. “It’s been amazing with students here, but I do have a family to take care of. I would like to get closer to where my parents live. I want my children to know their grandparents.”
During his tenure as campus rabbi and assistant director of programming at Hillel, Orlow has formed relationships with many of the approximately 1,800 Jewish students involved in campus Jewish life. With his departure, some students are anticipating a period of flux at Hillel.
“I think it’s pretty important to have that stable person…there. After all, the rabbi is supposed to provide spiritual guidance on campus,” junior Jodi Smith, a student involved in Jewish life, said.
But Jessica Litwack, Hillel’s Jewish campus life coordinator, does not forsee the rabbi’s departure having a significant effect on Hillel’s operations.
“Rabbi Avi has been wonderful. Of course we will miss having him,” Litwack said. “However, we are hiring new people to fill those positions. Hopefully the people we are looking for will have as much innovation and creativity as he had.”
Senior Eitan Hochster, president of Jewish Student Union, agrees that it is appropriate that Orlow find further opportunities elsewhere.
“Rabbi Avi has reached the full [achievements] that he could make here,” Hochster said. “It definitely was a difficult year, but it’s working out well.”
Orlow added that the departure of a staff member is not of great importance because the organization’s focus is on student activities.
“I think Hillel is and always will be about the students. There is no doubt that we are undergoing a lot of transition with our staff, but it is always about our students,” Orlow said.
Orlow also said, however, that staff transition will bring challenges for those students already involved.
“We are able to [encourage] people to make a commitment to Jewish life through our relationships,” he said. “A new staff will have an uphill battle in making relationships.”
Orlow is confident, though, that Hillel will find competent replacements for him as well as for Igielnik, people whom Orlow believes will bring in fresh ideas and form connections with the students.
“I do not have a doubt that they will fill my job with someone who is amazing,” Orlow said. “I have no doubt that the new staff will be able to forge relationships with both old and new students.”
In its search for a new executive director, Hillel is also looking for a personality who can form those relationships by being the face of the organization for a longer period of time.
“We have been looking for an executive director for a number of years. We haven’t found the right person yet,” Orlow said. “There is no doubt that with Hillel, you form a relationship. With a transition, there is a lack of those relationships, so you’re going to have a hard time.”
Igielnik could not be reached, despite repeated calls for comment.
Despite the current situation, Litwack feels that Hillel will rebound from its challenges.
“From what I understand, in the past, the Jewish community has been really vibrant,” she said. “I think that organizations and student life go through cycles and phases.”
Rabbi Hershey Novack of Chabad on Campus, a Jewish student organization unaffiliated with Hillel, also feels that Hillel will continue its past success.
“I am saddened that Rabbi Avi Orlow will not be here next year.” Novack wrote in an e-mail. “Although his departure leaves a big void, I am hopeful that a worthy successor will be found. I am confident that Hillel will advance its fine work.”
Andy Ratto, Hillel’s Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps fellow, will also be finishing his two-year term at the organization.
-With additional reporting by Ben Sales