Heller was elected the following year asassociate chair of the Coordinating Council, thestudent governing body o Hillel. Jeremy A. Dauber'95, who was chair the same year, describesHeller's work as "absolutely phenomenal."

"It's very easy to overlook the day to dayaffairs of the Hiliel [amidst] the big splashyevents," says Dauber, "but Josh made sure thatnever happened."

Held also a former chair of the CoordinatingCouncil, echoes this sense of Heller as someonewho gets things done. "Sometimes you sort of stopand wonder how things man aged to fall into place"at Hillel, Held says. "If you search hard enough,you find [Josh], lurking in the background with anidiot grin."

H eller ascribes much of his decision tobecome a rabbi to his experience with theEgalitarian minyan at Hillel. As one of the"gabbais" of this group of Conservative Jewishstudents, Heller helped organize and conductreligious services. Heller points to his work asgabbai as being the most enjoyable and rewardingof all his jobs at Hillel.

Describing his involvement with the minyan,Heller twice mentions the story of a woman whocame up to him after Yom Kippur services this yearand, thinking him for his work in helping runthem, told him that his presence had meant a lotto her.

Another influential factor was his year-longstudy of the Mishnah, which worked both for andagainst deciding to become a rabbi.

"On the one hand[ I saw that] no matter what Idid, I was capable of setting aside an hour aday," says Heller, noting that Jewish text studyis one of he things he enjoys most in the world.

"On the other hand," Heller says, "in doing it,I read texts that seemed to me could have verystrong bearing on issues that Jews today havetrouble with."

"I think the people who wrote this stuff downwere dealing with a lot of the same stuff we'redealing with now," says Heller earnestly. "If readin appropriate ways some of these texts can beread in a way that is sensitive and humanistic butwhich is also true to the tradition andintellectually honest."

As an example, Heller refers back to the recentdebate within the "Egal" minyan about thepropriety of altering some of the prayers toinclude the matriarchs as well as the patriarchs."It turns out," Heller says excitedly, "thatthere's this out-of-the-way passage.... in which aconvert says a different version of a prayer,"From this, Heller concludes that alternate waysreflecting personal circumstances may bepermissible. "It's not that that text in and ofitself addresses the problem," acknowledgesHeller, "but it's certainly important to bringup."

H eller still wasn't sure that he wantedto be a rabbi, and he hesitated throughout hisSenior year. The morning before his afternooninterview at the Jewish Theological Seminary(JTS), the rabbinic seminary of the Conservativemovement of Judaism, Heller interviewed with a NewYork company anxious to hire him for his computerskills. "I kind of knew when my last interview waswith the president of the company and I spent thewhole time telling him why Jewish education wasimportant," says Heller with a grin.

It Heller wavered before making the decision topursue the rabbinate, his friends were morecertain. "Honestly, I think it was all a questionof when," says Held who, like Heller, will startat JTS in the fall. "This is kind of what he wasmeant to do," says Held. "I think he knows thatand has known that all along."

"Look, he's a very gifted scientist and...hereally loves science," says Held, noting withamazed pride his future roommate's scientificaccomplishments. "[But] I think his heart hasreally always been in teaching Jewish things toJewish people. I just don,t believe him when hesaid he would've done anything else.

"I don't believe he would've been happy doingsomething else, either.... Torah is what makes himtick," Held adds.

Deborah H. Reingold '95, Heller's Talmud studypartner and one-time girlfriend, agrees. "It'sdefinitely true that he could have doneanything, but in terms of his personality and theway he deals with people he was just perfect for arabbi and I don't think he'd be a happy" doing anything else.