By Hadar Katsman, Senior Features Editor
With the start of the Fall semester, students at the Beren campus welcomed a new addition to their Office of Torah Studies and Spiritual Life team: Rabbi Sammy and Rebbetzin Atara Greenberg, the third campus couple who will oversee the Torah programming and Shabbos life on Beren.
Rabbi and Rebbetzin Greenberg told the YU Observer they’ve adjusted smoothly to life on Beren and the rhythm of the nightly Torah programming, which has already kicked off with shiurim, Selichot (prayers of forgiveness), a kumzitz, and chaburot given by the three campus couples themselves.
“It was a nice two-week push before the Yamim Noraim (High Holidays) to make the most of the very short Elul zman that there is this year,” Rabbi Greenberg said, joking that the month off from school is going to make it “a little hard” to remember everyone’s names on return.
The Greenbergs, who are entering the position of Rabbinic Intern Couple, join fifth-year Beren campus Rabbi Azi and Rebbetzin Ellie Fine and second-year scholars-in-residence Rabbi Yosef and Rebbetzin Gitty Tropp. While it’s no longer practical for the Fine’s growing family to live on campus, hampering their ability to stay on campus quite as late at night as previously done, they will still be strengthening the weekly Torah programming, Dean Shoshana Schechter, Dean of Torah Studies and Spiritual Life, told the YU Observer. “They’re still the campus couple, they’re just living off campus.”
Even with the Fine’s large involvement on campus, Dean Schechter “wanted there to still be two campus couples living on campus,” adding that she “didn’t want to decrease the programming that we’ve been strengthening for the past couple of years.” With that, she created the position of the Rabbinic Intern Couple.
“They’re relatable, friendly and genuine,” Dean Schechter said of the Greenbergs. “They’re both really great role models and good Torah mentors for our students, for all types.
Rabbi and Rebbetzin Greenberg are both originally from Teaneck, New Jersey and hope to eventually make aliyah. Rabbi Greenberg attended TABC for high school, followed by two years of learning at Yeshivat Mevaseret. He graduated from YU’s Sy Syms School of Business in the spring of 2024 with a B.S. in Business Analytics, originally thinking to pursue a career in sports business, and was on the YU baseball team. He was in Rabbi Yehuda Willig’s shiur for his first two years at YU and Rabbi Eliakim Koenigsberg for his last year. Rabbi Greenberg is currently in his second-to-last year of semicha (rabbinic ordination) in RIETS. He was in Rabbi Koenigsberg’s shiur his first two years of semicha and is now in Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz’s shiur.
Rebbetzin Greenberg attended Bruriah High School and did a year-and-a-half of seminary at Michlalah. She then graduated from Stern College with a B.S. in Psychology and was also involved in Yachad. Last year, she was a paraprofessional in Ma’ayanot High School. She is currently in occupational therapy school.
During her time at Stern, Rebbetzin Greenberg admired the impact of Rebbetzins Fine and Schonbrun on the community. A graduate of Stern not too long ago, Rebbetzin Greenberg is in a position where she feels she can easily relate to and mentor students through this stage of life. “She really understands the Beren experience and knows the ropes, which immediately creates a level of comfort and connection with the students,” Torah Activities Council (TAC) President Hannah Schachter (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer, adding that the Greenbergs are a very approachable couple.
“I’m excited for TAC to work alongside them to create more opportunities for students to learn, ask questions, build relationships, and make Torah an even more central and meaningful part of campus life,” Schachter continued.
Rabbi and Rebbetzin Greenberg will be in the beit midrash for weekly Torah learning and schmoozing with students, but “[t]heir role is mainly the Shabbos role,” Dean Schechter said. The majority of their time will be spent running Shabbos on campus almost every week with the Tropps. “It’s incredible to work with people who have so much energy and passion for Am Yisrael,” Rebbetzin Gitty Tropp told the YU Observer, reflecting on just these past few weeks working with the Greenbergs.
Beyond the official programming, the Greenbergs hope to “make a community” that “expand[s] the campus past the dorms and the school buildings” by running informal programming with Torah and food, similar to what Rebbetzin Tropp has done this year like an eim bayit, Rebbetzin Greenberg commented.
Rebbetzin Greenberg is excited to get a glimpse of Stern from behind the scenes for the first time, and she admires the student body’s collective efforts and “desire to make Stern the best place possible.” She said, “Everyone wants to make Stern for themselves and for others a good experience so everyone puts in a lot of effort. It’s amazing to see how many people care, socially and spiritually.”
“Just after spending one Shabbos with the Greenbergs,” Rebbetzin Tropp said on behalf of her and Rabbi Tropp, “we’re really really excited to be working with them and to be able to benefit from all they have to offer to the Stern community and the Shabbos life on campus in general.”
Courtesy: Rebbetzin Atara Greenberg