Rabbi Daniel Epstein, the senior Jewish educator at George Washington University Hillel, where he’s worked since 2016, always wanted to become a rabbi, although he had a nontraditional start as a financial adviser for JP Morgan before pursuing the rabbinate.
Epstein also works with DC Kosher, an organization that helps restaurants and manufacturers become kosher certified. Originally from Queens, New York, Epstein lives in Silver Spring with his wife and three children and belongs to Kemp Mill Synagogue.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I was born in Texas, and I moved to Belle Harbor [in Queens, New York] when I was 11. I went to Jewish camps, Jewish schools and Jewish restaurants. I’ve had a series of experiences that have connected me to aspects of Judaism, and these experiences have led me to be connected to Judaism as a whole.
I went to Queens College, worked in finance for several years at JP Morgan, then decided to become a rabbi. I always wanted to be a rabbi because it’s a lot of fun; you get to have interesting conversations with people, learn Torah and do little mini side missions with people and really make a difference in people’s lives.
You used to work as a financial adviser. How did you get to where you are today?
I used to sell stocks and trade bonds. Now I help people take stock and form bonds. I learned from Wall Street to the Western Wall. But there’s a lot of similarities actually in my two jobs. First, I was a financial adviser/banker. It was actually a lot about relationship-building, meeting people where they are, listening to what they say and finding a mutually beneficial solution where someone fits in or can find some sort of connection, either to the bank, financial products or to God. A lot of being a financial adviser and being a rabbi is forming relationships with people and listening to them. I wouldn’t say advising, just more listening and seeing what path [one should take, serving as] more a guide than anything specific.
My father-in-law has a shul where I would start to make speeches and give classes, and my father and brother and other people are always interested in giving a D’var Torah, but I really got influenced by my in-laws. My mother- and father-in-law are very involved in the rabbinate, and they’re involved in a lot of nonprofits. They’ve been at the temple in Staten Island for the past 42 years.
What are your responsibilities as senior Jewish educator at GW Hillel?
I meet with students, I go on a lot of coffee dates and try to listen to the students and hear what they’re interested in, what they’re talking about, what they want. That’s kind of the most important thing that I do: build a lot of relationships. Then I also have something called fellowships and cohorts about Zionism, about Jewish identity, about various other things and those usually have a stipend and food. The same group of about 15, 20 people meet every week and discuss life’s big questions or Zionism, cultural Zionism, religious Zionism. [We] kind of dissect that one topic a little bit deeper. We also have drop-in events like a lunch-and-learn or [guest] speakers.
Hillel does many programs, but specifically, I manage mostly the education; the one-on-one small group lunch-and-learn is usually smaller. We do learning with some fraternities and sororities, and then I also handle the ritual aspects of Shabbat and holidays during the semester with students and community members, which would include overseeing Shabbat services with a couple of different services every week. We have High Holiday services — Reform and Conservative — Purim, Chanukah, Passover, Sukkot.
What do you like best about working at GW Hillel?
Definitely the students. The students are always having new ideas and new questions. There are always groups of new students to meet and people with new ideas and perspectives on the world and skills, talents and ways of seeing things that you never even thought to think of.
You have a master’s in Israel education. What prompted you to pursue Israel studies?
The reason I liked the program and the degree is because it focuses on education itself and applies it to the world of Israel studies and campus education and just the field in general. It’s a great program because it’s based out of the education school, so there’s a lot of stuff that I learned about general education that’s applicable to all education.
I think Israel is a very tough subject to teach, and I think that if you’re able to have skillful conversations with people that you disagree [with] about that subject and other subjects, which also are difficult and very fraught with conflict, it’s kind of like a testing ground. I always say Israel is not in the Middle East by accident; it builds character. These kinds of conversations about difficulty and conflict within the Jewish people and externally, Jews and Zionists and anti-Zionists, it really makes you learn your facts and learn up on your arguments. That’s why I did the master’s to learn this methodology and learn about why people believe certain things about Israel and how to teach it and how to teach it better.
