Our Mission
Hillel and the JSU strive to foster a vibrant Jewish community, meaning that students feel included and energized around their Jewish identity and practice. Hillel creates a student-centered, pluralistic, and egalitarian Jewish community that welcomes people of all movement and secular backgrounds, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities, and all approaches to Israel. Hillel is invested in providing diverse religious and cultural programming to Oberlin’s Jewish community.
Hillel Staff
Yaffa Muhlbaum (She/her)
Springboard Social Justice Fellow
Yaffa grew up in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was heavily involved with NFTY and Rockdale Temple. She completed the Joint Program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary where she earned a BA in Archaeology and a BA in The Hebrew Bible, respectively. During her time at Columbia she served as the President of Pizmon, a 501(C)(3) Jewish non-profit and music group. At Columbia/Barnard Hillel, Yaffa served as the Ruderman Disability Inclusion Ambassador. She participated in the Kraft Global Fellowship Program where she traveled to Chile as part of an interfaith learning exchange. She also participated in the UJA Changemakers Fellowship, a program dedicated to the development of global Jewish leadership. Yaffa connects to Judaism primarily through tikkun olam and music. She has a dog named Carlton, a passion for knitting, crocheting, and embroidering, and is always looking for her next great read.
Email: ymuhlbaum@clevelandhillel.org
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Rabba Amalia HAAS (She/her)
Rabbi-In-Residence
Rabba Amalia Haas is currently Rabbi in Residence at Oberlin College, a chaplain with the Cleveland Clinic, and formerly served as the Director of Spiritual Engagement at Congregation Beth-Sholom in Providence, Rhode Island. Amalia practices healing modalities such as meditation, Reiki, and yoga. She has served as a teacher educator for Jewish outdoor, food, farming and environmental educators. An award winning entrepreneur, Amalia is the founder and CEO of Amalia’s Bees, a company focused on educating about the intersection of pollinators, climate change and the Jewish calendar, and on marketing local and specialty honeys for Rosh HaShanah. Rabba Amalia was ordained in 2020 by Yeshivat Maharat, holds an M.A. from Yeshiva University in Jewish Education and a B.A. from Oberlin College in Music and Women’s Studies.
Email: ahaas@clevelandhillel.org
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