Growing up, Amy Weiss’ parents emphasized that Judaism is about showing up, not just studying or discussing issues.
“Service really gives people a way to act and a way to ground themselves,” said Weiss, who believes that service is an antidote to the negativity in the world. “I think that service is an immediate and tangible way for people to not feel powerless.”
Weiss recently became senior director of field activation strategy for Repair the World, the Jewish service movement that connects Jewish young adults and their neighbors to volunteer opportunities nationwide. The movement’s mission is to “make service synonymous with Judaism.”
Previously, Weiss served as the director of Jewish communal engagement and learning at OLAM, a network of Jewish individuals and organizations committed to global service, international development and humanitarian aid. Weiss also spent nine years working with Maryland Hillel, where she sent more than 1,000 students on service learning trips.
Weiss earned her bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University, studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and received a graduate certificate in Jewish Communal Service from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University. She is a Wexner Field Fellow and serves on the board of Yahel, an educational nonprofit dedicated to service learning in Israel.
Weiss lives in Silver Spring and belongs to Kemp Mill Synagogue.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up outside of Boston in a home where Judaism and service were intertwined. My earliest Jewish memories aren’t just holidays or rituals; they’re about serving meals in local soup kitchens, with my parents participating in drives, being a part of phone banks and going to rallies. As a family, I grew up in the Conservative movement and was really active in United Synagogue Youth — that also played a huge part in me becoming a Jewish service professional. My parents always taught me that being Jewish was to show up.
How did you first become interested in service?
My Jewish expression, both as an individual and in my family and community, and as I moved into my professional life, service remained the throughline. I began my career at Maryland Hillel, where we partnered with Repair the World. We built dozens of meaningful, consistent volunteer opportunities, including things like tutoring at a local high school where over 60% of the students had English as a second language, creating a girls’ empowerment after-school group at a local elementary school, and tutoring and building relationships with young adults at the juvenile detention center. We also expanded all of our immersive experiences across the country and around the world, and these experiences brought students to explore criminal justice reform, food insecurity, migration, climate and the list goes on and on. Maryland Hillel really was the start of my career.
Have you always wanted to pursue a Jewish communal career?
After I graduated college, I spent two years at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. In my second year there, I anticipated coming back to the States and really asking myself, “What do I want to do?” I convinced myself that I wanted to go to law school. I took the LSAT and applied to law school and I realized that wasn’t my path. When I dug a little bit deeper, I looked back at everything that was meaningful: my life and all the major moments that defined who I was at that time, and it was all being a part of the Jewish community. I decided I wanted to be a part of providing those experiences that I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end [of] and to help the next generation in building Jewish identity and connection.
What issues are you most passionate about and why?
On a personal level, the issue that I’m most passionate about is around criminal justice reform. Especially when I lived in Minneapolis, I was really involved in criminal justice reform around sentencing laws and adjusting that to keep people out of the prison system.
What are you most looking forward to as you enter your new role with Repair the World?
In my particular role, I lead the national expansion strategy for what we call the Jewish Service Alliance, a coalition of more than 60 Jewish organizations that partner with Repair the World to grow and strengthen the Jewish service movement and embed service and volunteerism into the ethos of what they do. I’m focused on expanding our reach, deepening our partnerships and ensuring that more communities across America and the globe have access to high-quality Jewish service opportunities that are meeting true, urgent needs in their communities.
What I’m excited about with my current position is that I get to build and support Jewish organizations of all sizes, from local Federations to Hillel International to [Alpha Epsilon Pi], and help their constituents identify what they care about, understand the needs of their communities and build partnerships around that.
