Question & Answer

Shelley Greenspan

The bridge between the White House and American Jews | By Lisa Hostein

When shelley greenspan was appointed over the summer as the new white house liaison to the American Jewish community, she found what she calls “more than her dream job,” combining her passion for public service and Jewish life. A self-described “proud Zionist,” the 32-year-old Miami Beach native and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors is no stranger to the alphabet soup of American Jewry. She has worked professionally at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and has served on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish National Fund and Jewish Women International.

Greenspan also has been politically active, helping lead Jewish Women for Joe during President Biden’s 2020 campaign. In addition to her liaison role, she is continuing to serve as a policy advisor at the National Security Council.

When we spoke through Zoom one week before her September wedding, the Hadassah life member and Young Judaea Year Course alumna was wearing a Hadassah pin—a golden lion sitting between the words “Hadassah” and “Young Judaea”—that once belonged to her grandmother. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

To what extent has your Jewish background influenced your career path?

I went to a Reform synagogue, a Conservative summer camp and an Orthodox day school. So from a very young age, I learned to embrace the diversity in our community. As I got older, the more I connected with my own Jewish identity, I fell in love with public service, which goes hand in hand with the values from our tradition.

How would you describe your role as liaison to the Jewish community?

I serve as the administration’s voice to the community, and I’m also tasked with gathering consensus from the community on issues that we care about—which isn’t always the easiest—for the benefit of White House policymakers. I want to ensure that diverse voices are being heard, not just the traditional voices that are the loudest, and that their concerns are turned into action.

What key issues are American Jews most concerned about these days?

I think of it in the reverse: What are the key issues for the administration? And also making sure we have relationships within the Jewish community, which is so involved in domestic politics and foreign policy, everything from the availability of kosher baby formula to reproductive rights to antisemitism.

What about Iran? Many Jews worry about what reviving the nuclear agreement would mean for Israel.

My job is making sure our community is being updated and that people’s concerns are being relayed to administration officials. We recently set up a briefing with Rob Malley, the special envoy for Iran, with about 30 Jewish leaders to ask their questions and voice their opinions. You know they might not always agree when it comes to something as heavy as Iran, and even within the Jewish community there’s a lot of diversity on foreign policy. But I think as long as you’re being transparent and keeping each other in the loop, that’s how I define success in this role.

The American Jewish world is far from monolithic. How do you navigate those internal politics?

I really am trying to be strategic in the ways in which we either set up a roundtable or invite folks to a briefing. We aren’t just trying to build relationships with Jewish Democrats. We want to hear from all American Jews, including Jewish Republicans. It’s also about empowering women and minorities within the community, including Jews of Color, who maybe in the past haven’t gotten a seat at the table.

Some say one of your most important roles is determining who’s invited to the White House Hanukkah party. Would you agree?

We all joke about the Hanukkah invites, but I think it’s really something to celebrate the fact that this means so much and that it has come to be a tradition in the White House. [It began with President George W. Bush in 2001.] We are koshering the kitchen in the White House yet again for this year’s Hanukkah celebration for so many leaders—that’s never something you want to take for granted.

Lisa Hostein is the executive editor of Hadassah Magazine. Read a longer version of this interview at hadassahmagazine.org.