GW Hillel’s Executive Director Adena Kirstein will leave the University at the end of July to work for a local Jewish day school, capping off 15 years at the organization.
Kirstein announced her departure in an email to the Hillel community last week, writing that she accomplished her goals for the organization and believes officials and students at Hillel will benefit from a “fresh set of eyes” to shape its path forward as she joins the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School as its Chief Advancement Officer. During her time at GW Hillel, Kirstein oversaw the construction of Hillel’s building on 23rd and H streets and led the organization as the GW’s Jewish community reacted to the October 7 attacks in 2023 and developments in the subsequent war in Gaza.
Kirstein said in an email to The Hatchet that she values the work she did with students as her role was “all about relationships.” She said she appreciates the time she spent with students and community members creating “productive discomfort,” which she described as helping a student through a loss or asking a question nobody else was willing to ask.
“Despite any professional successes, there’s no moment I value more than those,” Kirstein said.
Kirstein said when she took over as executive director in 2017, she set three goals for herself. When she completed these goals, she said she started doing some “soul searching” about the next steps for herself professionally, leading her to realize she had to figure out how to “make peace” with leaving somewhere she “really loves.”
“It just felt like the right time to take on a new professional challenge — and I also think it’s healthy for any organization to have refreshed leadership and vision for our ever-changing times,” Kirstein said.
Kirstein arrived at GW in 2010 and served as Hillel’s assistant director. After seven years in the position, she transitioned to the organization’s executive director, after former director Rabbi Yoni Kaiser-Blueth announced he was leaving Hillel in May 2017.
Kirstein said universities in general have a “dynamic environment” that contains “fascinating people,” adding that since she started at GW Hillel in July 2010, each year she notices how a college campus feels both the exact same and entirely different.
“I have felt nourished by that type of place and especially by my work with students over the years,” Kirstein said in an email. “I am so grateful I got to play a small part in their identity development as they emerged into adulthood.”
Kirstein said Hillel’s Board of Directors has already begun the search for her successor and said she looks forward to “cheering that new person on.”
Kirstein said she has been at GW for two “tumultuous” times for Jewish students, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
In the wake of the October 7 attack and a rise in pro-Palestinian activism on campus, Kirstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in October 2023 that anti-Israel and anti-GW projections onto Gelman Library were “absolutely” antisemitic. She added the projections left GW’s Jewish students feeling “isolated” and “alone.”
Hillel under her leadership also planned memorials and vigils on campus, including after the Israel Defense Forces announced they had recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages in Gaza in early September 2024.
After former President Joe Biden announced a ceasefire in Gaza in January this year, which included the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, Kirstein said it brought the center “deep joy” to take down the posters of the first three released hostages. The GW Hillel building has displayed posters of those who have been taken hostage by Hamas since the October 7 attack.
Kirstein also oversaw the construction and opening of the new GW Hillel building on 23rd and H streets, which houses Hillel’s offices, along with GW Zingers — a Kosher dining facility — and offices for the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service and Disability Support Services. When the building opened in September 2021, Hillel leaders said the new building would unite the Jewish community on campus.
Kirstein said she is departing GW with the hope students will continue to “sit with difference” and learn from a wide array of people, some whom students may never interact with again in their lives.
“I walk away from GW with a hope that despite campus challenges, the majority of our students still are striving towards that,” Kirstein said. “As I close out my time here, I pray that all on-campus can still hold on to the belief that this space for nuance and learning, even if it may be uncomfortable at times, is still worth pursuing.”
