Rabbi Dave Siegel: A Passionate Individual

At Hofstra University, I had the opportunity to meet with an individual who is passionate about his job on campus. Rabbi Dave Siegel is the Executive Director of Hofstra Hillel. Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world and is a welcoming and inclusive environment for Jewish college students.

Rabbi Dave got his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University, where he studied politics, philosophy, and law. He continued his education at New York University, where he got a masters degree in public administration. He also went to the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he got a degree in Rabbinic Ordination and a masters in education.

Rabbi Dave enjoys working at Hofstra Hillel because it combines his two loves, Jewish education and administrative work.  Before working at Hofstra, Rabbi Dave was the director of the United Synagogue Youth in the metropolitan area and he used to work for the Foundation for Jewish Camp. 

Working with the students and faculty to try and build up the Jewish community at Hofstra consumes most of Rabbi Dave’s day.  He enjoys this because many students are excited about getting involved and this shows that Hofstra Hillel has the potential to develop into something great. Since September, the amount of students that have been coming to Hillel events have grown. There were over 150 students present at one of their events last week. Rabbi Dave is proud of what Hofstra Hillel is becoming and is always looking to improve the program.

Rabbi Dave is an influential person at Hofstra.  He is a role model to Jewish students who are active in Hillel. He also deals with many administrative situations on a daily basis and speaks with students, donors and the community about opportunities Hillel can offer them or what they can do to help Hillel grow and live up to its full potential. 

Even though Rabbi Dave influences others, there are a couple people in his life that have really influenced him.  His parents play a big role in his love for education because they were both teachers.  By being an educator, you can really have an impact in many people’s lives and that is what his parents were doing for him.  He really respects that and looks up to them. 

“At the end of the day, I always leave happy.” Rabbi Dave enjoys coming to work every day and he said that he is fortunate enough to be working at Hofstra.