Rabbi Steve Nathan
Endowed Director of Jewish Student Life and Associate Chaplain
spn217@lehigh.edu
(610) 758-4875
(pronouns: he/him/his)
Rabbi Steve Nathan's rabbinic career started right here at Lehigh more than 25 years ago when he served as a student rabbi and Hillel Director at Lehigh from 1990-1992. He remained in the Lehigh Valley for two more years serving as student rabbi at Reconstructionist Congregation Am Haskalah in Allentown until he was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA in 1994.
Since that time, Steve has served as a rabbi, educator and youth group leader at Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative congregations. He has also worked in the Jewish Federation world and served as director for religious schools and community religious high schools. However, through his years as a Jewish professional, Steve came to realize that his true passion could be found working with college students. Through serving as Campus Rabbi and Interim LGBTQ advisor at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, as well as Jewish Chaplain at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, he discovered the place where he started his rabbinic career when still a student in 1992 was really where he wanted to be.
Steve is a native of Scranton, PA, and received his BA in Human Development from Boston College and his MA, M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University-Teacher's College prior to working as a psychotherapist with children and teens. He then realized that he wanted to combine his love of working with people with his love for Judaism, which led him to enter rabbinical school in 1988.
Rabbi Nathan spent his adult years studying and working in the Philadelphia area and then in the DC-Baltimore area, St. Louis, Western Massachusetts and upstate NY before moving back to Scranton in 2011 in order to care for his elderly mother. He has served these years as the part time rabbi of the Jewish Fellowship of Hemlock Farms (in the Pocono Mountains) and also worked as a therapist with children, teens and their families.
Steve is the proud father of Shira, living in Israel, Eitana, a sophomore in college, and Noah, who just graduated High School and is spending a gap year studying in Israel. If you would like to meet with him or have any questions you can stop by the Jewish Student Center, email him at spn217@lehigh.edu or call at 610-758-4875.
Tyler Katz
Engagement and Programming Associate
Tyler Katz is the Engagement and Programming Associate for the Lehigh University Hillel and Office of Jewish Student Life.
Originally hailing from the suburbs of Chicago, they attended the University of Miami, where they actively attended Hillel and engaged themselves in Jewish life while getting a B.M. and B.S. double-degree in Music Theory & Composition and Applied Computational Physics with minors and principals in math, political science, and violin performance. They were also actively involved in LGBTQ+ student life in Miami as well.
They then continued their Hillel involvement in graduate school at the University of Iowa, where they received their M.A. in music. After graduating, they continued to work in a higher education setting by running get-out-the-vote programs at Indian River State College and Eastern Florida State College through a national political organization.
Tyler continues to enjoy music, composing and performing violin in their free time. They also enjoy traveling, activism, LGBTQ+ events, bicycle riding, walking, and bird-watching. They are very excited to join the Lehigh University community and can’t wait to meet everyone!
Jane A. Hontz
Greetings! My name is Jane Hontz and I am the full-time Office Coordinator for the Office of Jewish Student Life. I started my career with Lehigh University in July 2014 working in the Development Office. Since August 2018, I have been with the Jewish Student Center as Office Coordinator.
I can be reached at jah714@lehigh.edu or (610) 758-4896.