Rachel Margolis (Isaacson) is a 2002 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences with a BA in Near Eastern Studies. She went one to receive her joint masters in Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Since then, she has directed and consulted with family schools, Religious Schools, community Hebrew high schools, synagogue day camps and retreats around the country.
Rachel currently works as a Senior Program Manager at the Union for Reform Judaism, where she teaches and weaves networks of Jewish professionals and lay leaders as they imagine and plan for the future of their congregations. Rachel believes deeply in the power of community and seeks to inspire leaders to explore new models of congregational life that are innovative, engaging, and build for a more just, whole, and compassionate world.
When not working with synagogue communities, Rachel has served as the chair of the HUC-JIR Alumni Leadership Council and is a member of the HUC-JIR Board of Governors. She is grateful to the Near Eastern Studies department for the deep grounding in religion and language she received at Cornell, as it has shaped her worldview and work. Rachel and her husband keep busy with their three daughters and dog in the Chicago suburbs.
