Rabbi Elliot Kaplowitz '02 and Toby Kaplowitz announced in an email to Hillel at Brandeis that they will be leaving the University at the end of the academic year to pursue "other opportunities to further [their] careers and prospects for [their] family."

In an interview with the Justice, Kaplowitz, along with his wife, serves as the co-director of Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Brandeis, a program aimed at providing spiritual guidance to Jewish college students who attend secular universities, and as advisors to Brandeis' Orthodox Jewish community. He explained that he and his wife made the decision to leave Brandeis to "explore and move on to other options."
Kaplowitz said that he would like to see himself serving in a leadership role at a synagogue. Toby currently works at a Jewish day school and hopes to become a director of one in the future.

The Kaplowitzes have worked at the University for over five years.

Rabbi Kaplowitz, who received a combined BA/MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies with a minor in Hebrew Language and Literature, also served Hillel at Brandeis as one of the advisors to the Jewish community.

President of Brandeis Orthodox Organization Kimmie Kfare '14 said that "[w]hile their presence will certainly be missed ... the community looks forward to spending what's left of this semester and next semester with them and are eager to be involved in the search process for the next JLIC couple."

Kaplowitz said that he will look back fondly on the connections that he has made with students.

"It's all about the relationships that I'm blessed to form [and] make with students that we've been able to guide through various life experiences," he reflected. "I'll miss those interactions [at] such a private, robust Jewish community, not only where I was rabbi of the Brandeis orthodox community [but also] part of Hillel, and ... involved with the non-Jewish community."

Kaplowitz believes that he and his wife's positions will be filled by the end of the academic year in a process led by Executive Director of Hillel Larry Sternberg '78 and that there will be "heavy student involvement." Kaplowitz said that the details, which are still being worked out, will be made known to the community soon.

Sternberg could not be reached for comment by press time.
"It's bittersweet for us, but we're excited about the opportunities we're ready to pursue," said Rabbi Kaplowitz. "This is really a special place and really an amazing, unique community that we have been able to be a part of."

-Sara Dejene and Adam Rabinowitz.