Please welcome Dani to the OneTable team! We are thrilled to have her join us, and to see L.A. grow with her time here! Reach out to say hi. Now get to know a little about her:

How’d you end up at OneTable?

While working at Ramah in California this past summer, my cousin Nicole emailed me the LA Launch Manager job posting. I rarely checked my email at camp but I happened to see Nicole’s email just a few minutes before Shabbat began. I took 60 seconds to read the job description, rushed over to meet my campers and staff for Kabbalat Shabbat services and spent the next 25 hours obsessing over the job. I’m still obsessing.

If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

I have always answered this question with “spicy vodka sauce rigatoni” but now that that spicy vodka sauce is super trendy, I feel a little self conscious about my go-to answer. If mercury levels were of no concern, I’d likely rely on raw fish and rice.

What are you looking forward to the most in your new position?

I’m so excited to empower and support new hosts to welcome others into their homes and Shabbat practice! So many people shy from the hosting role because they lack the confidence, resources, or time to put on a Shabbat dinner/ event/ casual gathering with friends. OneTable can reintroduce the task of hosting and of identifying with your Shabbat practice in a way that is accessible, fun, personal, and elevated with community support.

Favorite LA experience?

Not to be ridiculously cliché about loving LA weather but my favorite LA experience is swimming and enjoying pool-weather over many (though not all) months of the year. Other classic things I love doing in LA? Eating avocados, biking along the ocean, opting for outdoor seating.

What does Shabbat dinner mean to you?

Growing up, Shabbat dinner always meant a lot of food and a lot of family. When I was young, typical Shabbat dinners were actually my least favorite meal food-wise, but a lot has changed since then, including my love for my family’s traditional Shabbat dinners! Since moving away from home for college, Shabbat dinner has evolved to mean cooking for others, getting to be a part of friends’ homes and rituals, and to bring friends into mine. Shabbat is good food, good wine, enjoyed amongst good friends. Shabbat is song and laughter and time to be re-souled.