Student Leadership
The J Street U Student Board is the central body that sets the direction for our student driven network.
The Student Board is responsible for setting policies, guidelines and statements governing the J Street U student network and works to monitor and strengthen our overall network. The Student Board is involved in all aspects of the J Street U organization, including campaign design, staff hiring and budgeting.
Elected at Summer Leadership Institute 2012, the J Street U Student Board is comprised of the following students:
Simone Zimmerman
President, J Street U Student Board
University of California, Berkeley
Simone is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Middle Eastern Studies. Thanks to eighteen years in LA Jewish day schools, Simone likes to think her Hebrew is pretty good, and she is now also studying Arabic, hoping to be able to speak to Israelis and Palestinians in their own languages when she returns to work in Israel for a year or two after graduation. Simone jumped right into the balagan of the Israeli-Palestinian debate at Berkeley her freshman year, and after a crazy first year it was so fortunate that J Street U came around right when she needed it. After participating in the inaugural Engage with Israel trip in 2011, she returned to help found Berkeley’s chapter. Simone just spent a wonderful semester studying and traveling abroad, but despite having a blast she was constantly itching to get back to thinking and talking about Israel all the time. In her free time, Simone loves to ruminate with her friends about their Jewish identities and to cook delicious, organic, vegetarian food at her Berkeley coop.
Jessie Salter
West Coast Representative, J Street U Student Board
Occidental College
Jessie grew up in Evanston, Illinois and is proud to be one of four national J Street U leaders representing E-Town. As a freshman in college, Jessie discovered her religious and political identity and is now the Vice-President of Programming for Occidental Hillel and the co-founder of J Street U Occidental. Called by many “crazily-overcommitted” (though she prefers the term well-rounded), Jessie is a biology major, art history minor, and when not working for a two-state solution or having Shabbat dinner can probably be found hiking around the LA area identifying native plants, analyzing a Chinese painting, or playing bassoon.
Yonah Lieberman
Midwest Representative, J Street U Student Board
University of Michigan
Yonah Lieberman is a Senior at the University of Michigan but hails from the most political city on earth: Washington, DC. His interest in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict was inevitable: he grew up with two parents who had spent a lot of time in Israel; went to the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School outside of DC his entire life; spent 11 glorious summers at Habonim Dror Camp Moshava, a Kibbutz-era Zionist camp; and has been to Israel half a dozen times. However, the more he learned about the conflict, the more he saw the human rights abuses and clear discrimination happening in the occupied territories, and the more he became convinced that the Palestinians deserved a state of their own. He stumbled into J Street U and found himself at the first ever Summer Leadership Institute outside of Baltimore in the summer of 2010. The energy and passion he felt there inspired him to help found J Street UMich — now one of the largest chapters in the country — where he was Chair for 3 semesters. On U of M’s campus, he’s active in other social justice causes, studies history, and learns everything he can get his hands on about community organizing. In his spare time he watches The Daily Show and sleeps. He also loves hiking and traveling, which luckily usually occur together.
Lauren Donoghue
Southeast Representative, J Street U Student Board
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lauren Donoghue is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursuing a BSPH in Environmental Health, minoring in Chemistry and Modern Hebrew. Lauren first traveled to Israel with J Street U on the first Engage with Israel: Peace, Democracy and Social Justice trip in 2011, and has anchored herself with Israeli activism ever since. After co-founding the J Street U chapter at UNC and acting as a J Street U Southeast Regional co-chair, she returned to live in Jerusalem for three months during the summer, interning for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel in their East Jerusalem department, studying Hebrew, and running around to not miss a moment. When her mind isn’t consumed by Israel, she may be aspiring to work in the regulatory toxicology community, sleeping on a couch at Hillel, day dreaming about her cats, running with her roommates, brushing her teeth, or wishing someone would ask her about Israel so that she could talk about it more.
Harry Samuels
Northeast Representative, J Street U Student Board
Brown University
Harry is a senior at Brown University, where he studies Modern Middle Eastern Studies and flirts with the idea of becoming nice Jewish doctor. An alum of Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island, Harry has been involved in Israel advocacy since day one, having served as the Vice President of Brown Students for Israel before taking the reigns of Co Chair of J Street U Brown. When he is not obsessing over Israel, Harry’s other passions include LGBT activism, indoor cycling and Diet Peach Snapple.
Maya Lee-Parritz
Midatlantic Representative, J Street U Student Board
Barnard College
Maya is a sophomore at Barnard College in New York City and hails from the magical place that is Newton, Massachusetts. After attending Solomon Schechter Day School and Newton South High School, she had the opportunity to go on Young Judea Year Course, where she learned about and experienced Israeli society in a very formative year. After co-founding the J Street U chapter at Bates College, she could not be more excited to strengthen her new J Street U chapter as a transfer student. Aside from obsessing over Israeli politics, Maya is studying comparative literature of the Middle East and is pursuing a career in dance.