About the Rabbi
My name is Rabbi Eric Kotkin and I am the College Rabbi. I’ve been working with high school and college students for a number of years. I was ordained at Yeshiva University as a rabbi, and I received a second ordination from Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt. I’m currently working on my dissertation for my EdD in Education Administration. After hiding in school for most of my natural life I decided to make it a go in the working world. As I was calling around to different universities to see if they needed a Jewish chaplain I received the answer numerous times that the Jewish Student Unions would like to have one but they can’t for a variety of reasons: money, the Jewish population of the school was too small, or the issue of separation of Church and State. It came to me that I could provide some of the resources Jewish students who don’t have access to a campus rabbi can’t otherwise get. I am currently building the site and I have a number of ideas I’m kicking around, but I am always open to suggestions.
My street credit comes from the fact that I did not grow up religious, and I went to college just like you. I started getting religious in high school and continued getting more serious, my semester in Israel was a turning point for me. It was the first time I got to experience Judaism as a living, breathing thing. I spent those six months meeting Jews living as Jews from more backgrounds and headsets than I had ever experienced, even in college. I prayed with Moroccans and Tunisians, worked in an Ethiopian orphanage, studied with Hasidim complete with coats down to their ankles. I had one of those trippy spiritual moments looking out over the city of Beer Sheva as the sun rose. Now I wear a kippah, I have a beard, I’m married and I have a baby at home. She’s little. I’ve been religious for almost 15 years now, and I’ve also been a metal head for 25. The first tape (yes tape) I bought myself was “Powerslave.” and I’ve been a music snob ever since. I have a fretless bass sitting in my closet that desperately needs a setup. MTV’s decision to cancel Headbanger’s Ball in favor of trashy reality shows heralded the end of rock and roll as I was weaned on, though hearing new Alice in Chains on the radio the other day was a nice surprise. I’m big into Martial Arts and I’ve been doing Yang Family Tai Chi for almost 3 years. I just started staff a few months ago. I’ve also run in a 5K for the past 3 years on Memorial Day weekend and I get involved in other random projects. I keep very busy. And like many college students I don’t really believe in sleep. But unlike most of you I don’t bother with coffee and just occassionally fall asleep in the middle of a sentance. It’s not polite though so you shouldn’t do it.
