Benjamin Hersch’s entire career has been in the Jewish nonprofit world.
Hersch has worked for Camp Ramah, American University Hillel, American Jewish Committee, Boston University Hillel, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Anti-Defamation League in Washington, D.C.
Nearly a decade later, he’s back at AJC D.C., now as its associate development director. Hersch holds a bachelor’s in international studies from AU — including a semester studying abroad in Jerusalem — and his master’s in Jewish professional leadership and nonprofit management from Brandeis University.
He lives in Silver Spring with his wife, Amy, and their dog, Moira.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in Edison, New Jersey, in a Conservative Jewish family. I definitely grew up in a Jewish bubble all the way through high school; I went to Jewish day schools, different Solomon Schechter schools. I spent all of my summers at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. At Jewish day school, I feel like I learned the history and background of what it meant to be a Jewish person in the Jewish community, and summer camp instilled the love and importance of the community. That was kind of my “Jewish bubble” upbringing, all within the Conservative movement. Then, when I got to American [University Hillel], I really branched out and saw the breadth of Jewish life.
Why did you pursue Jewish professional leadership?
My first inkling of “I want to put myself in a place where I want to serve the Jewish community” happened at a rather young age at summer camp. During the summer of 2006, I was going into sixth grade and that was the summer of the Second Lebanon War, when Israel was fighting with Lebanon. At Camp Ramah, we had Israeli staff. A longtime camper and counselor at our camp, Michael Levin, was killed in action that summer fighting in Lebanon for the [Israel Defense Forces].
We [did] this thing where different age groups welcome the Shabbos with a song and dance. My group sang a song in honor of Michael, who had just been killed in action that week. While I was just in sixth grade and I didn’t really understand the gravity of the situation the same way as others, I was definitely able to see how it was a meaningful, intentional and comforting space for the staff that were friends with Michael and my friends who[m] he had babysat. I was able to see the power of Jewish community coming together, not just in happy, easy times like summer camp, but also during tragedy. [It was then] that I wanted to contribute to the well-being of the Jewish community.
At that point, I went to American because I was really interested in Israel advocacy at the time. I did a couple different internships within the Jewish community while I was there both on campus and off campus; I interned a lot and spent a lot of time with Hillel, as well as a few other places. I did a study abroad program with The Nachshon Project, which is a two-part program where undergraduate students [are] heavily recruited from summer camps and other young Jewish engaging organizations like Hillel, and they plan their whole program around your study abroad at Hebrew University. You can connect with thought leaders, rabbis, musicians, artists, politicians while you’re at Hebrew University through their programming, and the goal is to understand and consider the many options of careers in Jewish communal service. I had that opportunity to explore along with my coursework and my work in internships [during] college.
Then when I got out of college, I wanted to make sure this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I went and worked for Hillel. I fully understood that this was for me and that’s when I pursued my graduate degree through the Hornstein [Jewish Professional Leadership] Program [at Brandeis], which prepares Jewish professionals to contribute and to be leaders in Jewish communal services.
What are your responsibilities as the associate development director?
We’re a small but mighty team, so we all help out everywhere. My roles right now are working with our individual donors, our board members — basically everything we do on the fundraising side is my focus. I work on the development-facing portions of our events, including our 33rd annual ambassador Passover seder coming up on April 9.
What do you like best about working in the Jewish community?
I think it really goes back to that moment at Jewish summer camp when I was younger, of really feeling like I am a part of and contributing to the betterment of my people. As a Jewish people, we’re responsible both to our family [and] community and help[ing] make the world a better place. Every organization I’ve been a part of in the Jewish community is also focused on those things.
What are your upcoming goals?
I just started at AJC, so right now, I’m just trying to better immerse myself in the community and learn more from the professional side, what makes the organization so amazing and impactful, at the local level but also all around the world. … I’m working in the Jewish community and with AJC for the long haul and I’m just really happy to be where I am right now.
