Hannah Saiger

Hannah was a member of Tivnu’s seventh cohort, and thinks of the gap year as one of the most impactful years of her life. During her year in Portland, she worked with the construction team to build infrastructure for popup villages for unhoused Portlanders, and worked with Kindness Farm, an organization that teaches regenerative agricultural practices and donates their produce to neighbors in need. Hannah made long lasting friendships in her cohort, fell in love with communal living, and loved adventuring through the Pacific Northwest.

Hannah grew up in New York City, attended Schechter Manhattan through eighth grade, and was raised in the congregations of Shaare Zedek and Kehilat Hadar. She spent many summers as a camper, counselor, trip leader, and art program director at Ramah in the Rockies. Hannah is grateful to Tivnu for challenging her to create and practice pluralist Jewish community and ritual with people from different backgrounds. 

Hannah is now a senior at Brown University studying Environmental Science, where she has continued to pursue many of the passions she discovered on Tivnu. She has spent semesters living and cooking in an environmental co-op not unlike the Tivnu Batim, and has spent summers learning about and working to protect safe food and water systems. Last year, Hannah ran a student housing outreach program that she has been involved with since her first year. The program, part of an organization called Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, trains and organizes students to distribute supplies to and build relationships with unhoused people in Providence, connecting them with other organizational resources when possible. 

She feels so grateful to the impact Tivnu had on her life, and is excited to remain involved in the community as a board member.