Vancouver Hillel’s Staff Team

Vancouver Hillel has a team of dynamic and passionate staff who are driven to provide Jewish student programming and presence on campus across British Columbia.

Eyal Lichtmann, executive director

During his undergraduate career at UBC, Eyal served as student president at Hillel for 3 years, and upon graduation worked as the Hillel Program Director for two years prior to obtaining his MBA. After working in the corporate sector for several years, Eyal returned to Vancouver Hillel as the Executive Director and now provides guidance and oversight to students during their tenure at post secondary institutions.

Orit Goldfarb, executive office manager

Originally from Israel, Orit joined Vancouver Hillel in the fall of 2006 as the Executive Office Manager. She is integral in all of the operations that occur at Vancouver Hillel.

Maggie Yonash, special events coordinator

Maggie has been working for and volunteering with Vancouver Hillel for the past 14 years. She is originally from Israel and among other things is tirelessly working on Vancouver Hillel’s Capital Campaign and annual Gala.

Pat Johnson, director of development and communications

Pat grew up in Vancouver and graduated from McGill University, where he first encountered Hillel. After working as a journalist, consultant and hack writer for many years, Pat joined Vancouver Hillel in 2006 as Director of Development and Communications. In the past five years he has served as Hillel director at Simon Fraser University, Managing Director of Programming and, this year, returns to the comfortable position he began in more than five years ago.

Ayelet G. Weil, managing director, programming

Ayelet grew up in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and went to Macabi HaTzair Camp for 10 years. After high school, she moved to Kibbutz Maagan Michael for a year, and then completed two years of army service in the Liaison and Foreign Relations Division of the Israel Defence Forces. After the army in Israel, Ayelet moved to Canada to study political science and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Victoria. Since completing her degree, she has served three years as Hillel Director in Victoria, and is now looking forward to starting a new journey in Vancouver. Her passions include tennis, dance, and an immense love for Israel. Ayelet speaks Spanish, Hebrew, English, Portuguese and Italian.

Paul Curran, SFU director

Paul Curran grew up in Vancouver and graduated in 2009 from the University of British Columbia with a degree in psychology and art history, and is currently studying project management part-time. Paul creates and exhibits distinctive black-and-white acrylic paintings and is passionate about anything fitness-related, studying Israel, practicing Hebrew and Arabic, and immersing himself in Middle Eastern culture and music , especially that of Mizrahi Judaism.

Ohad Gavrieli, shaliach

Ohad Gavrieli is beginning his second year as Vancouver Hillel’s Shaliach (Israeli emissary). Ohad grew up in Kibbutz Biet Ha’emek in Western Galilee and in Kiryat Tivon, near Haifa. Ohad served in the IDF orchestra, playing tuba, and afterward travelled the world (like Israelis do). Upon his return to Israel, Ohad completed a degree in Middle Eastern studies and sociology at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva, while working at Hillel Israel on a project to bring students and community members together through music. Ohad’s passion is music and, in addition to tuba, he plays guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and trumpet, and composes songs. As Shaliach, Ohad supports the Israel clubs on all three campuses and provides resources and advice to students and staff on every aspect of Israel programming, including advocacy, culture and current events.

Jeff Greenberg, UBC program director

Jeff Greenberg was born and raised in Toronto, and graduated with an honours degree in arts and sciences from the University of Guelph, specializing in biology and psychology. As a student, Jeff was involved in Hillel at both the local Guelph level and in national Jewish student communities. He served two years as a national board member of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students (CFJS). Jeff has many different interests, but especially loves to travel, explore new places, play music and sports, meet new people, and mentor student leadership. Jeff is new to Vancouver and “absolutely cannot wait to begin working in this bright, vibrant community – any tips for a newcomer would be greatly appreciated!”

Rael Katz, Uvic director

Rael Katz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has lived in Vancouver for 17 years. After completing 12 years of Jewish education, Rael transitioned to the University of British Columbia, graduating this year with a BA in interdisciplinary studies focused in sociology. Rael spent his second year of university at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he developed his passion for Middle East politics. Returning to UBC, he spent three years on the executive of the Israel Awareness Club, serving as external vice-president and, last year, as president. Rael loves all outdoor sports, especially soccer, snowboarding and swimming.

Rotem Tal, engagement director

Rotem Tal is working toward a BA in business at S.F.U, but is taking a break from his studies to assume the important new role of engaging more Jewish students on all three Vancouver Hillel campuses. Rotem was born and raised in Israel; but lived in Toronto for a time between the ages of five and 10, where he lost his innocence and Israeli accent, and gained Canadian citizenship. Rotem speaks Hebrew and English and enjoys bike-riding, snowboarding, and anything outdoors. Rotem served in the Israel Defence Forces for three years, after which he did “the whole Israeli nomad thing for a while” visiting Thailand, living in Australia for a year, backpacking through India and finally running out of money and returning to reality. When he saw his pockets emptying, Rotem went to the United States, where he worked at random Israeli-owned beach stores in Florida and then found odd jobs in malls across the USA. After travelling satiated his sense of adventure, Rotem decided to settle in Vancouver in 2008. He is a founding resident of Vancouver’s first Moishe House. As a new member of the young Vancouver Jewish community, Rotem is ready to share his passion with students on all three Vancouver Hillel campuses.