What is your major, and why did you decide to pursue this degree?
I am pursuing a masters in Computer Engineering. I chose this degree because I enjoy solving problems and seeing results. When I am given a problem, I can write some code and see immediately whether the problem has been solved, and if not, figure out how to approach it differently.

Where are you from?  Where did you go to high school?
I grew up in Paris and when I was 13 my family moved to Pittsburgh, PA. I went to Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh for high school.

What do you love about Jewish life on campus?
I love the sense of community. I enjoy walking around campus and running into friends or people I’ve met at Chabad.

Do you have any siblings?
I have four siblings: Noam is 20, Talia is 15, Yael is 11, and Dan is 5!

What is your favorite food?
I love meat, so a good steak has to be up there. I also love lamb, my grandma makes a great lamb shoulder. 

What's your favorite Jewish holiday and why?
I love Pesach. It’s always been a time where we get together with family, and spend 10 days together. I always loved the seder, getting to see my grandfathers lead the seder, and feel their tradition being passed down. My grandfather on my dad’s side is from Morocco, and he even does parts of the Haggadah in Ladino.

What's a quote or saying that you like?
My grandfather has been drilling this quote into my head since I was a kid: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” He always reminds me that nothing comes easy and that everything has to be earned.

How do you envision yourself in twenty years?
Hopefully in Israel with my wife and a few kids, a nice job that leaves me time to learn and spend time with my family. 

What is your favorite Chabad experience?
Spearheading Shabbat 2000 my freshman year was such a fun and rewarding experience. I got to create the website that is now used every year, and we improved the system that year to streamline the day-of setup. Seeing 2000 Jews celebrating Shabbat together that night, and knowing I played a major part in the planning was really inspiring.

What's your favorite lockdown experience?
My high school was pretty small, I only had one other person in my grade. We would go on a lot of bike rides and just take class from wherever we happened to be that day. 

What makes you proud to be a Jew?
Growing up in France, I witnessed a lot of antisemitism, which ultimately led my parents to move us to Pittsburgh. A few years later, a synagogue in my neighborhood was the target of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. What makes me proud to be a Jew is how we come together as one people in the face of hate. The response to these tragedies is incredibly inspiring and has strengthened my sense of pride. Unfortunately, over the past few years, we’ve all seen firsthand what it means to stand together in the face of antisemitism, but at the same time, that unity and sense of pride is something really powerful and meaningful.