Just months out of college, Zachary Ainbinder-Barkley is making his way in the world. He is the senior associate for program development with the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange.
He graduated from American University in May with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and affairs with a focus on foreign policy and conflict resolution in the Middle East, and a minor in Israel studies. Ainbinder-Barkley spent his last semester abroad in Amman, Jordan.
He served as editor-in-chief of Student Israelity, a student-run blog sponsored by AU’s Center for Israel Studies, and was one of 40 undergraduate students selected in the United States to be a Geller International Fellow for the Israel on Campus Coalition. Ainbinder-Barkley lives in D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and belongs to Adas Israel Congregation, where he teaches third graders at Sunday school.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in a town just outside of Nashville called Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Growing up Jewish in Murfreesboro was very difficult because I was the only Jew at whatever school I went to from my time in elementary school up until my senior year of high school. I’d have to drive 45 minutes to synagogue every Friday and Sunday to be involved: going to Shabbat [and participating] in my youth group. When I was younger — elementary and middle school — I wasn’t too involved in my Judaism. I went to Sunday school, but it wasn’t something I was too involved in.
Going into middle and high school, I started getting more involved in youth group, in particular with the North American Federation for Temple Youth. I was really active in my Temple Youth group board. As I grew older in high school, I started to become more involved in regional North American activities, being active in NFTY Ohio Valley, as well as serving on regional cabinets and attending the former URJ Kutz Camp. Without those experiences I made at NFTY, with people I still talk to, some of my best friends, I wouldn’t be where I am now. NFTY is what gave me my voice, and now I feel that my purpose is to give back to the community that gave me my voice.
Why did you decide to study conflict resolution in the Middle East?
Stemming back to my NFTY days, I grew up around politics. My mom was a frequent listener [of] everything NPR, whether it be Morning Edition or Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. I grew up around politics, in particular, hearing about the [Middle East] conflict. When I was a junior in high school, I had the opportunity to visit Israel.
One moment that really stuck with me was visiting what was then called the Kings of Israel Square, and I walked through the site of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in [1995] and I remember walking through those remnants and realizing that this was a moment of history — there aren’t words to describe how powerful that moment was for me. It led me to write my thesis paper my junior year of high school, “Assassination of Rabin,” and led me to focus on Israeli-Arab dialogue, minoring in Israel studies at AU, also taking a wide array of classes on the Middle East [and] conflict resolution.
What did you learn during your semester abroad?
I received my acceptance letter to go on this program on Oct. 9, to be able to go into the Arab world, take immersive Arabic and improve my language skills. I ended up going to Jordan and seeing the region from a very beautiful perspective and learning about the region from a way I had never seen it. I was able to build, create and cultivate such meaningful relationships with students, academics, diplomats and politicians from all different walks of life in the Arab world.
One of the big things being in Jordan, and now as I begin my career with AJC’s Project Interchange, is trying to find ways in which I, as an American Jew, can connect with someone [on something] that can be such a critical, divisive issue, and trying to find our common visions or goals, trying to find ways to move forward.
Tell me about your work with AJC.
At Project Interchange, we bring global leaders and policymakers from different parts of the world, everywhere from India to Estonia. These can be various people from politicians and diplomats, civic leaders to journalists. What we do is we bring these groups of people on delegation trips to Israel where they’re able to support Israel. As a senior associate, it’s my job to make sure participants are taken care of throughout their experience [with] AJC and make sure they have these critical people-to-people interactions that make our program so important and meaningful.
What are some of your goals as a recent graduate just entering the workforce?
My goals are meeting people that I can meet, not taking anyone for granted and using opportunities to learn from others. Learning and growing is one of the big things that is so critical.
How do you spend your free time?
I am an avid distance athlete, currently training for a 10-mile race. I’ve done several half-marathons. I’m a huge road cyclist – I get it from both my parents. I’m a huge traveler. Whenever I have the time, I love visiting a new state or country. I’ve had the opportunity to visit 20 different countries and I want to continue the list as I go on.
