Staff

After moving back home to South Africa for a few years, Elan returned to the Washington DC area in 2014 where he was working as the Director of Planned and Major Giving for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. In 2016, he decided to “return home” and assumed the role of Capital Campaign Director for Maryland Hillel, steering financial resource development efforts for our new building. Elan completed a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, majoring in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Cape Town. He holds a Masters Degree in Jewish Communal Service with an emphasis in fundraising from Brandeis University. In 2016, he completed his Masters in Information Systems degree through Northwestern University. He is married to Jackie and is the proud father of Dina and Ariel. In his spare time he enjoys cooking (well eating actually), swimming, reading biographies and current affairs, and volunteering.

Liz Donaldson has served as the Office Manager since 2007. She handles the administrative and financial needs of the office. Liz has been working within the Jewish Community since 1999. Prior to working at Maryland Hillel, she was the Office Manager at the Bernice Rabovsky Religious School at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, MD. Liz grew up in Maryland and went to UMUC. She looks forward to helping and interacting with parents, students and staff. Students enjoy her positive personality and friendly demeanor. In her free time, Liz enjoys quality time with her husband Jason, their two children and two adorable dogs.

Rabbi Yonaton Hirschhorn was born and raised in Neve Daniel, Israel. After high school he joined the Hesder program, and studied at Yeshivat Otniel and Yeshivat Bat Ayin. Yonaton joined the IDF in 2008, and served as part of the Golani Brigade. When Yonaton finished the 5 year Hesder program, he began teaching at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh in the Old City. After teaching at Netiv Aryeh, Yonaton went on to teach at MATARA, a Jewish therapeutic boarding school for teenage boys, Bnei Chayil High School for boys, Midreshet Darkaynu, and Midreshet Moriah. For the past two years, Yonaton has been running and teaching an evening Beit Midrash program for youth in Neve Daniel, “Mevakshei Panecha”. When Yonaton is not learning or teaching Torah, he enjoys watching and analyzing movies, watching TED talks (one day he will be giving his own!), and hiking the beautiful land of Israel. Yonaton loves being behind the grill and cooking up delicious meals for students almost as much as he loves teaching! Yonaton is the proud husband of Avital, and his two beautiful girls, Nava and Tamar.

Miriam Schwartz is originally from Great Neck, NY. She spent a year studying at Migdal Oz and attended Stern College for Women. She was a fellow at the Legacy Heritage Jewish Educators Project, a program that trains Jewish educators through courses in education, psychology and Judaic studies, as well as intensive fieldwork in classroom settings. Miriam was an OU-JLIC Fellow at Queens College and the co-director of Student Activities. She completed her Masters in Jewish Education from the Azrieli School of Jewish Education and is still pursuing a masters in Bible at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Miriam loves watching the West Wing and Shark Tank, reading, and cooking different ethnic cuisines. She also does Tai Chi and Yoga (and can sometimes convince Rabbi Schwartz to join her). She loves to cook delicious food for her husband, and especially her students! Miriam and her husband, Elie are so excited to become part of the UMD family!

Shuli Tropp has served as the director of institutional advancement since 2012. She is originally from Baltimore (go Orioles) and graduated from UMD in 2005 with a degree in accounting. She was involved with hillel as a student – you can find her name on the wall in the hillel conference room – and was inspired by her Alternative Break trip to Odessa to work in the Jewish world. Shuli and her husband Marc have four daughters who will (hopefully) go to UMD one day.