Andrew Kastner has been named the Silk Foundation Campus Rabbi at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University in St. Louis. He will begin his duties in July.
Kastner
“We are ecstatic about Andrew’s hire,” says Jackie Levey, executive director of St. Louis Hillel. “He was selected for the position out of a pool of approximately 50 applicants from throughout the United States and Israel.
“He is incredibly talented and bright, relatable to students, and his warm personality and depth of experience is certain to facilitate and enhance a pluralistic Jewish environment on campus and pluralistic approach to Jewish expression,” Levey says.
Originally from Cleveland, Kastner graduated from Indiana University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and Judaic studies.
After attending and working at the Union for Reform Judiasm Goldman Union Camp Institute for seven years, Kastner attended the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and is expected to be ordained from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, N.Y., in June.
Kastner currently serves as the director of the Jewish Youth Encounter Program for the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, where he directs the synagogue’s supplementary Jewish education program.
“I am thrilled to join the staff of St. Louis Hillel at Washington University and to be working with college students in St. Louis,” Kastner says. “In particular, I am looking forward to being part of the intellectual and spiritual journey of the students and to helping to make an impact within the university community.”
Kastner is married to Leslie Cohen, and they have one son, Asher, who is 10 months old.
St. Louis Hillel seeks to inspire Jewish college students to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life. Its mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students in St. Louis so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.
St. Louis Hillel provides a variety of meaningful Jewish experiences and opportunities for students, including alternative break service trips, trips to Israel through Taglit Birthright Israel, Shabbat and holiday services and meals, and social justice, cultural, social and educational programs.
For more information, visit stlouishillel.org.