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Maya and I grab a table at Emissary. Over iced coffees and pre-snowstorm jitters, we chat about Maya’s recent engagement, space weather, the northern lights, planning a Jewish wedding, working at NASA, and the things you learn in the emergency room.
Samuel: What brought you to the DMV?
Maya: I came for work after college! I was looking at Denver and Chicago, but when NASA offers you a job, it’s pretty hard to say no, so I moved to DC.
Samuel: What do you do at NASA?
Maya: I’m a scientific software developer working on a space weather lab team. I did not know what space weather was, or that there was weather in space before I started this job. Solar storms can mess with cell phones and GPS and cause the Northern Lights. But, I do data analysis and visualization for a whole bunch of space weather models.
Samuel: You got engaged recently! Tell me about that.
Maya: Zach, my wonderful fiance, has been volunteering at Miriam’s Kitchen since before we met. He does the breakfast shift once a month, which is 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. A few months into us dating, I’d heard a lot about it and was very curious, so I started going with him. One Thursday morning, we’re in the car to drive over, and he’s driving, and he turns on the turn signal to turn into Miriam’s Kitchen’s parking garage, but then drives right past it. At first, I thought he just missed the turn. I’m like: Zach, you missed the turn. And he just sits there sheepishly.
At that point, we’d talked enough about our timeline and our expectations for getting engaged that I knew what was going to happen. So, I started screaming. He drove us to the National Mall, we walked around a little bit, and then he proposed at the top of the Lincoln Memorial, looking out at the Washington Monument at sunrise. There was a photographer, and it was very beautiful and awesome.
Samuel: That’s very sweet. Do you remember when you realized that, if Zach proposed, you’d say yes?
Maya: I do actually. About six months after we started dating, I had to go to the emergency room. Everything was totally fine, thank God, but it was the kind of thing where I talked to a few people and they were like: Just go get it checked out. The best part of that not-great day was how calm, helpful, and supportive Zach was. Hopefully, most of our life will not be like that. But in the times that are, he’s exactly what I need him to be. It was a very clear moment; this is somebody who is all the things that I need in a partner in the worst of times. Also in the best of times.
Samuel: How has being in love changed your Jewish practice?
Maya: Being in love has expanded the things that I find meaning in. There are things that Zach does that I didn’t do, or didn’t do consistently, or did without thinking about it. Like, he’s very consistent about saying blessings before he eats, and that’s something I previously would do on Shabbat, but wasn’t super consistent about…now, because [these practices] are part of his life, they’ve grown to be a part of my life, and provided me an opportunity to to find meaning.
One of my favorite tidbits that I’ve learned from Jewish studies is that you can’t expect yourself to be able to have kavanah [Editor’s note: intention or specific purpose] without putting yourself in the situation to have intention. Like, you’re not going to always feel deep, meaningful connection to your prayer, but you’re definitely not going to feel that connection if you’re not praying. So, I don’t necessarily feel a meaningful connection to everything Zach does, but adopting some of his customs and habits has given me the opportunity to find connection to those things.
Samuel: Flip the question – how do you think your Jewish practice changes how you approach love?
Maya: I mean, I’m currently planning a Jewish wedding. It comes up. But we’re talking about what we want our Jewish wedding to look like, and what values we want it to reflect. We talked to a rabbi last night, and he said something really helpful to hear as we jump into the planning process, which was: Your wedding is one day of the rest of your Jewish life. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It probably won’t be. But then we get to build the rest of our Jewish life together, and we have time to tinker with things and figure out what’s meaningful for us.
Samuel: What else is feeling alive Jewishly for you?
Maya: I have recently dove headfirst back into Jewish learning in a way that I haven’t since college. I become the co-chinuch coordinator, the education coordinator, who builds the educational programming for DC Minyan. My main initiative is Project 929, which refers to the 929 chapters of all of Tanakh. That’s given me structured Jewish learning in a way that I haven’t had in a while, in a fun way and a way that lets me share it with other people.
Samuel: What’s something you’re feeling proud about?
Maya: I’m writing a paper about the work that I’ve done in the past two years, building this website that I’ve developed. Getting to put my name on something that I’ve built is really cool, as well as just getting to share it with the world.
I’m also proud of the Jewish life I’ve built in DC! Thinking about getting married and having all the people I love come to DC and bear witness to that is really exciting.
Samuel: You’re hosting Shabbat dinner and can bring any three people. Who are you bringing?
Maya: Rosalind Franklin, a wonderful Jewish woman who died way too young of ovarian cancer caused by the radiation she was exposed to from her research, which led to the discovery of DNA – and that someone else got credit for. I would love to talk to her. Then, Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia explosion. And, in the interest of having someone who isn’t a scientist, I would bring my grandmother. I’m blessed to have three living grandparents, and one who passed away when I was nine. I’d love to get to know her as an adult.
Samuel: Last one. Finish the sentence: When Jews of the DMV gather…
Maya: I always learn something new.
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