Parents visiting American University often ask Naomi Fainchtein what year she is in at college, not realizing that she works full time as the assistant director of AU Hillel.
Fainchtein, 33, moved to Washington, D.C., with her husband in 2021, where they live in Columbia Heights. She studied broadcast journalism and worked in TV news before transitioning to higher education leadership. She is a member of the DC Minyan in Dupont Circle.
Describe your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in Dallas, Texas, [in a] very involved Jewish family at our Conservative synagogue. I went to Jewish day school and Jewish summer camp and was very involved in [United Synagogue Youth]. Judaism was easy for my family; it wasn’t really a question. We felt really connected to Judaism and to the Jewish community. It was where most of our friends were. Participating in Jewish life growing up was what we did and I really loved it.
I was very involved in Hillel in college. I went to Northwestern undergrad and wanted to be a journalist. I worked in TV news for a couple years and wasn’t loving it. It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it was going to be. Something just wasn’t clicking.
I was looking to try something different and an opportunity came to me to work for the central office for USY, an organization that had been really meaningful to me growing up. I left journalism and did recruitment and logistics for USY summer programs. I loved the work they did and I loved being back in Jewish community on a regular basis. I was inspired to get my master’s in higher ed, which led me on a path of higher education work for a few years as I tried to get Hillel to stick. It took a bit of time for the location and the timing and the positions to all fit together until I was able to land this job.
Describe your responsibilities as assistant director of AU Hillel.
AU Hillel is on the smaller side of Hillels, especially for the size of the student population that we serve. My role as assistant director really has a hand in a million different things. I lead the program and engagement team, which means that basically everything that we do that is student-facing and programmatic falls under my purview.
I oversee and teach the Jewish Learning Fellowship — a cohort-based learning experience — and supervise the staff and teachers. We discuss life’s big questions: all these big issues that might be on college students’ minds and what they’re thinking about as they transition to adulthood. It’s an incredible opportunity. There’s no prior knowledge required; you come as you are and learn with a group of other students for 90 minutes a week on relevant topics designed to be a bit of an introduction to traditional text learning.
Why did you choose to work at American University and in D.C.?
I had been hoping to come to Hillel for a while. I have a master’s in higher education leadership and some background in the Jewish professional, Jewish communal world. I wanted to pair those pieces together, and Hillel is the perfect place for that.
I applied for a lot of assistant director positions nationwide. As I went through the interview process, AU felt like a really good fit. I was vibing with the staff and the students; I loved the environment. My husband grew up in the D.C. area and Rockville; his family’s still here. I have family here. We were hoping to put roots down somewhere and not move again.
What’s your favorite part of working with college students?
Every day is an adventure. I never know what is going to happen that day, what I’m going to be doing or working on. They’re so smart, they’re so driven and they have such big dreams. I just love this time of your life where you’re trying out a ton of different things, learning who you are: succeeding a little bit, failing a little bit. Everything is new. I get to be a small part of that, to help some students on that journey, to maybe support them through those failures, or watch them with pride through those successes; it’s a special period of time. I think the people that you interact with in a mentorship-type relationship during that time can be really impactful and important.
What do you want Jewish students to get out of their participation in AU Hillel?
I want them to feel pride in their Judaism and in their Jewish identity and feel ownership of their Judaism and their Jewish identity. We are a pluralistic organization, which means that we don’t subscribe to a particular denomination or style of Judaism. We use the phrase “all kinds of Jewish,” which means that the Jewish that you are is the right Jewish for you and the right Jewish for Hillel. I want students to understand they can seek out new knowledge, try new things if that’s what they’re interested in, or they can feel really confident and set in who they are, and that’s okay too.
Judaism can be all sorts of different things. It doesn’t have to be religious observance, or Torah, or this or that. It can be connecting through food, through culture, through sports, through music, dance, all these different things. I really want students to seek out their connection and their people.
