Last night the Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel's coordinating council chose Michael Rosenberg '01 as next year's chair of Hillel and Naamit M. Kurshan '02 as associate chair.

Both Rosenberg and Kurshan are no strangers to Hillel and already have served as chairs and co-chairs of Hillel committees.

They will take the reins from Michael A. Kay '01, the current chair, and Joshua S. Goodman '00, the associate chair.

Members of the council and non-voting observers packed Hillel's second-floor Smith boardroom last night for the election of the Hillel leadership for the year 2000.

After the lighting of the menorah for the fifth night of Hanukah, the four chair candidates and two associate chair candidates made speeches to the assembled audience and responded to questions. Candidates' position papers were available to the crowd.

Besides Rosenberg, candidates for chair were Matthew L. Bluestone '01, David Cody Dydek '01 and Tova A. Serkin '02, who is also a Crimson editor. James S. Davis '01was Kurshan's only opposition for the position of associate chair. Winning candidates were required to receive an absolute majority vote.

Many of the candidates stressed similar themes in their speeches and platforms.

Some pointed out the need to make Hillel more inclusive and inviting to all Jews on campus, an effort to change the image that some have of an organization made up of cliques or groups that are uninviting to new members.