The Meretskys

Rabbi Nosson and Sarah Meretsky, Co-Directors (Mendel, Chaya Mushka, Chana Leah & Shalom Ber, from L to R)
campusrabbi@psu.edu or sarah@psujew.com

Rabbi Nosson Meretsky

Rabbi Nosson was born in Stoneham, MA but left for the west coast at the age of two.  He grew up in the forests and fields of western Oregon on a 165 acre retreat center with a one acre garden.  He would give tours of the forest and perform magic shows. 

 After graduating from an alternative high school in Portland, Oregon, he performed as a Brazilian street kid for a touring, bi-lingual children's show as well as other theatre projects (including writing and directing plays and a musical) and rode his bicycle to the local food co-op to stock vegetables.

He later studied theatre at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington.  Then Majored in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington.  While at the University of Washington he began to become much more connected to his Jewish identity and began thirsting to know and experience more.  Rabbi Nosson then flew to New York to further his Jewish education.  After spending five years studying and experiencing Judaism to its fullest as well as studying towards his rabbinical certification (in Brooklyn, Israel, then Brooklyn again) he met his wife Sarah Ita.  They married in Omaha, NE, then spent a year in Crown Heights, Brooklyn eating miso soup, learning Torah, and making new and creative dishes for Shabbat. 

Sarah Ita Meretsky

Sarah Ita was born in Omaha, Nebraska.  She grew up in the suburbs of this small Midwestern city.  She was a very competitive swimmer, breast stroke was her best stroke.  Besides swimming all the time, she loved animals and planned to be a Veterinarian.  She spent a lot of time trying to heal ants that she would mistakenly roll over with her skateboard and taking care of her many pets.  (dogs, cat, rabbits, birds, chameleons, newts, and fish).

After graduating from her regular high school in 1993, she went on to Israel for a 6 week NFTY tour of Israel and realized it meant more to be Jewish then going to a Synagogue and eating bagels and lox.  She made some goals that she would learn Hebrew and more about what it meant to be a Jew.  She went on to study Biology at Brandeis University and to fulfill her goals.  She swam for Brandeis for one year, then decided she wanted to fully observe Shabbos.  She spent her summers being Veterinarian assistants and doing research on AIDS induced dementia.  She went abroad to Israel her Jr. year and decided she wanted to make allia and start keeping kosher.

After graduating from Brandeis she went to Israel to learn Torah.  One year in Jerusalem and one year in Sfat.  In Sfat she fell in love with learning Chabad Mystical Judaism and moved to Crown Heights to meet her soul mate.  After living in Crown Heights for 2 months, she met Nosson Meir.  They got married 4 months later.  After marriage, they spent a year in Crown Heights taking advantage of the G-dliness Crown Heights had to offer and enjoying macrobiotic food.  She taught English to 7th graders at Beis Rivka girl's school.

They then decided to move to Penn State and share in the beauty that Judaism has to offer with their fellow Jews.