Aliza Silverman was always involved in the Jewish community. Growing up in Short Hills, New Jersey, she was raised on Jewish traditions. For Silverman, Judaism is more than just her religion. It’s a part of her everyday life.
After coming south to earn her bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies at the University of Maryland, Silverman headed back up Interstate 95, stopping in Baltimore to become University of Maryland, Baltimore County Hillel’s community engagement associate. She then served as Hillel’s director of student life for two years until 2023, when she took on the role of interim campus director.
Today, Silverman is celebrating over six years working at UMBC Hillel, having served as the group’s executive director for almost a year now.
She lives in downtown Baltimore.
Tell me about your role as executive director.
I started as the engagement associate, where my job was really focused on engaging with as many students as possible. I’m still student-facing, but the role has definitely shifted from more zeroed in on meeting with students for coffee to also working with them on their greater needs as Jewish students on campus and working with university administrators to make sure the needs of Jewish students on campus are met.
It’s more of engaging the greater UMBC Hillel and UMBC community to help make sure our students on campus are served properly. So, it’s still engagement, but to a slightly different audience. I’m someone that really likes working with people and talking to people, so it’s still getting a lot of what I originally came to Hillel to do, but in a way that helps amplify us as a Hillel a bit more.
How has your life changed since the last time you were featured in the Baltimore Jewish Times in 2020?
In 2020, it was COVID, so I really didn’t go many places for at least another year, until I was vaccinated.
Once I was vaccinated and going into the world a bit more, I was seeing a lot more people. My life has gotten a lot less socially isolated since then. At that point, I was living in Moishe House — I was there for three years, from August 2019 to June 2022 — taking on additional volunteer roles in the Jewish community, and since moving out, I’ve gotten more involved in Jewish communities around Baltimore.
I’ve been working on a master’s in Jewish Professional Studies at the Spertus Institute since October 2023. There was a lot going on that month, but my program at Spertus, we started three days after Oct. 7, and having that cohort experience in my graduate program, as well as the support of the Jewish professional community in Baltimore, has been really meaningful. I also got engaged a few months ago, so I’m also planning a wedding. Someone I met at Moishe House originally, so my life has definitely changed a lot in the last five years.
How did your Jewish upbringing lead you to working professionally in the Jewish community?
My parents raised me Jewish. They raised me with the traditions, and I always loved the Jewish traditions and rituals. I was also a product of Jewish summer camp; I grew up going to day camp.
[Early in high school], I wanted to work with kids, and then it turned into, “I want to work in Jewish spaces,” especially after I got involved in USY, the Conservative movement’s youth group, in which I was very involved in high school.
I went to college — which had a Jewish studies major — at University of Maryland, knowing that my goal was ultimately to work in the Jewish world. I was open to various options, but I also knew in undergrad that, at least my very first job out of school, I wanted to work for Hillel.
I was very involved in Hillel at UMD, and I didn’t know where that was going to take me. I mean, when I started, I never knew that I would later be the executive director at the Hillel that I had my very first full-time job at.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Seeing what being Jewish means to [students], and seeing how they’ve embraced their own Jewish identity in undergrad, and how they go into the world as Jewish adults. It’s just so incredible to see.
This past spring, we did a slideshow of all the graduating students, and hearing students reflect on their time at UMBC and their times as Jewish students and involvement with the Hillel community, it’s just really great to see.
