Hillel Ottawa recently welcomed Yaron as its new Israeli Fellow, marking the return of this important role to campus life after more than five years. The position is designed to help students build a meaningful connection to Israel and to support them as they navigate questions of Jewish identity, antisemitism, and belonging.

While Hillel Ottawa has not hosted an Israeli Fellow since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization is thrilled to bring this experience back to campus life.

Yaron believes the position serves a vital purpose on campus, offering a trusted Jewish-Israeli voice and a personal bridge to Israel, someone students can turn to with questions about their identities, especially as the climate grows more tense amid rising antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

Originally from Rehovot, in central Israel, Yaron previously worked as a camp counsellor in Minnesota and brings both international experience and deep cultural understanding to the position. 

“I always had a vision that I might come back to work with Jewish people in the diaspora, but I didn’t know how or when,” he said. “That’s when the Jewish Agency for Israel told me about Ottawa wanting an Israeli Fellow.”

Yaron, who is of Russian-Israeli heritage, noted that this background helps him connect with a diverse range of students. “There were a lot of students who emigrated from Israel around a decade ago,” he said. “Many of them are also Russian-Israeli, so being able to speak both Hebrew and Russian will help me build deeper connections with that community here.”

While Hillel Ottawa builds the new role around Yaron's strengths and interests, the overall purpose of an Israeli Fellow is to represent Israel on campus, strengthen ties between diaspora communities and Israel, and support Jewish students. Operating in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, and Hillel International, Yaron's role bridges local, national, and international networks of Jewish life.

He sees his work as serving two main goals: “supporting students and providing new learning opportunities for them.” He explained, “When you have friends or family in Israel and you don’t have any peers at school to talk to about it, you need this personal connection to Israel to be able to relate. I just want to help [the students] as much as I can, especially as they may hear conflicting things about Jews and Israel in the classroom.”

Having already worked in the United States, Yaron says he understands the nuances between the perspectives of Israeli Jews and Jews living in the diaspora. Though he has never been to Canada before, he is eager to experience and learn from its unique Jewish community.

“In Israel, we always talk about the diasporas in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France,” he said. “We hear more about Canada as a place to immigrate to, rather than a place known for having a large Jewish community.”

As he begins his time in Ottawa, Yaron looks forward to exploring what makes Canadian Jewry distinct and to helping students strengthen their connections to Jewish identity and Israel.

If you would like to connect with him, he can be reached at [email protected].