Maital Kaminer’s part-time job is “her mother’s dream” because it’s within the Jewish professional world.

The Washington, D.C., resident has been the events and engagement coordinator at Washington Hebrew Congregation’s 2239 — the Reform synagogue’s young professionals network — since November in addition to her full-time role with a technology firm.

Kaminer helps organize the group’s monthly Shabbat dinners, works with two WHC rabbis on programming, conducts one-on-one conversations with 2239 members and helps coordinate 2239’s steering committee, which guides and informs community programming.

Her role is to “take a pulse of where the community’s at, what they need, the different types of programming,” ensuring 2239 hears as many voices as possible and serving as the go-to person for young adult members’ questions or needs.

“I feel like Judaism is interwoven into many things I do in direct or indirect ways, and 2239 is just another way to give to a community that I have really grown to care for,” Kaminer said.

Kaminer, who recently turned 30, is right in the middle of 2239’s age range.

“I am at an interesting vantage point where I can understand what people in their 20s are looking for, and then also recognize your 30s are a lot different,” she reflected. “A lot of the time, the 30-something-year-olds are there to help guide the people in their 20s with lived experience, and I think the 20s keep them young.”

The young professional said she enjoys working with WHC’s Rabbis Rachel Schmelkin and Eliana Fischel, whom she described as creative and community-oriented.

“The members of 2239 are extremely active,” Kaminer said. “This is something that they really want to focus on [at] this stage of their lives, and I love the community aspect.”

2239 Shabbat dinners are especially uniting. “It’s nice to see people who maybe don’t see each other that often … and within all of it, Judaism is woven through,” Kaminer said.

In addition to coordinating behind the scenes, Kaminer attends the events with fellow young professionals in the WHC community.

“I personally enjoy a lot of the events that we do because they are things that we think are fun,” she said.

The group has gathered for Havdalah yoga sessions and picnics. Soon, they’ll go to a Washington Nationals game together. In late July, they’ll host a bagel lunch and an “ask me anything” conversation on Israel with a community shlicha.

Kaminer recognizes the need for recent college graduates and D.C. transplants to find community, something she personally didn’t have to worry about thanks to her involvement in Avodah Jewish Service Corps, which sent her to the nation’s capital.

“I recognize that I got lucky. I moved here and I had 23 new friends through Avodah, so I never felt like I personally needed to make as much of an effort in that respect,” she said.

Unlike Kaminer, many of her post-graduate peers wondered how to make friends and find community as a young adult. “These events are one way to do that,” she said.

“[2239 is] a great space for people to meet people, get to know what they like, see what kind of programming we can put on, and also we’re always happy to talk with them about other events we see too,” Kaminer said. “[The DMV Jewish community] is one big web, and we just want people to be involved wherever they see best.”

Kaminer has been involved herself. Before joining 2239, she served as the senior associate of governance and leadership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington from November to June. A resident of Mount Pleasant, she is also a member of the New Synagogue Project in D.C.

Kaminer was born and raised by a single mother, a child of Holocaust survivors, in Atlanta.

“I feel like I think of my grandparents a lot when I think about working in the Jewish world, and how they came to this country in 1948 with a suitcase full of books and my 1-year-old uncle,” Kaminer said. “As much as I say this is my mother’s dream, it’s their dream in a way that I would be so connected to the Jewish community and that I would want to be part of helping people embrace their Jewish identity.”

While Kaminer’s mom never pushed her toward a Jewish career, Kaminer said she felt the importance of Judaism growing up.

“[My mom] is my blueprint for Judaism and involvement,” she said. “I owe it to her for me being in Jewish day school for 10 years and being able to do BBYO and [Sigma Delta Tau] and these Israel and Poland trips … My involvement in Judaism has always been really important to her.”

Kaminer added that being Jewish doesn’t only have to look like going to synagogue and observing Shabbat.

“There are other types of events; there are other ways to embrace your Judaism,” Kaminer said. “I think this would be something that [my grandparents] would be proud of, and that makes me proud to be part of it as well.”

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com