Non-Jewish Nanny For Frum Families Converts After Being Exposed To ‘Beauty Of Judaism’

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A popular social media star went from being “Non-Jewish Nanny” to an official conversion to Judaism, and has claimed that the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel fuelled her desire to be Jewish.

Adriana Fernandez, a Floridian, became a de-facto social media star for her fans after she began nannying for Orthodox families about four years ago.

Fernandez, who boasts more than 100,000 TikTok and Instagram followers, attended private Christian school and grew up with nearly no exposure to Judaism. Her cheerful videos, where she navigates her way learning new things in observant homes, have earned her several devoted followers.

A bartender and budding opera singer, Fernandez became an official Jewess last month after being exposed to the “beauty” of Judaism, the New York Post reported. Inspired by her young charges who taught her Hebrew and enlightened her about their faith, she underwent the years-long conversion process.

Fernandez revealed last week that she is finally ready for her first Pesach as a Jew.

“Officially chose my outfit for my first Seder as a Jew,” Fernandez, whose Hebrew name is Adina Shoshana, wrote on Instagram this week.

Fernandez, a classically trained singer, said she “definitely would love to make Hebrew music covers” and write a children’s book. She also revealed that the conversion path was not completely smooth for her, with some calling her “mashugana” — the Yiddish word for crazy — for becoming a Jew after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, during which some 1,200 Israelis were murdered.

Fernandez did not care even though people pleaded, “The whole world hates us.” “These are my people too,” she thought. “I was already in the process of converting – but I could have stopped.”

She recalled, “My first thought on Oct. 7 wasn’t, ‘How do I get out of this?’ I felt an even stronger connection to G-d.”

When Hamas carried out the massacre, she was at a synagogue, still in the midst of her conversion process. Someone there asked her if she was sure she wanted to give up her identity and become Jewish. “I wanted to cry,” she wrote. “It made me want it even more.”

Since then, she has become a prominent figure on social media in the field of Jewish advocacy. “October 7th was good versus evil,” she wrote. “I knew I had to show the beauty of the Jewish community.”

She has never visited Israel, and declared that she would only do so after becoming Jewish, “to experience it with a true Jewish soul,” in her words. She also refrained from visiting the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s resting place until she officially became part of the Jewish people, but eventually gave in—and the visit to the Ohel (the Rebbe’s gravesite) deeply affected her.

“I left there with a peace I couldn’t explain,” she said. “A week later, I got an email with an update about my final meeting with the Beit Din (rabbinical court). G-d took care of me.”

Adina Shoshana is not just a nanny who became Jewish—she is a symbol of a journey of faith, of seeking, and of a deep connection to a people, to God, and to a path. On an unconventional route, she chose to become what she had always felt inside—a Jew.