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Sara and I meet at Java House. Over the roar of the espresso machine, we chat about drawing spiritual inspiration from unlikely sources, Sara’s concept of divinity, bugs, working on climate change solutions, “the wheel,” and embodying Judaism.
Samuel: What brought you to the DMV?
Sara: My ten-year anniversary was in August. It goes by so quickly, especially with the pandemic and all. I’m originally from Minnesota, and I moved here from Texas. I had graduated from Texas A&M, studying entomology. The career paths are research in a lab or museum curation or like the people who spray. I realized as a senior that I had people skills – which are real skills. So, I did the museum work, and I’m going through microscope slides of fleas collected from a naval base in Panama in the 1950s, and I was like: I need to be talking to someone. A&M has an internship policy program in DC, so that was a three-month thing I could do just to get my feet wet.
I moved around a lot growing up, and so when I got to DC, by September I was like: This is it. This is a city that changes for you, instead of you getting tired of the city. I don’t feel itchy in the same way I did moving around as a kid.
Samuel: What else has kept you here?
Sara: Obviously work – there are things I work on that only exist in DC. Also, my parents sold my car when I moved out here. Maybe to get back at me. Being in a walkable city has been really great.
I also like being a medium fish in a big pond. I came from some smaller towns in Texas and felt like I was outgrowing some of those ponds. Being someplace that’s incredibly diverse, that has a big Jewish population, that is a place where comedians and authors and musicians come to, that is a place with international flights…there’s few places that fulfill all that.
Samuel: We were talking about Pete Holmes and Ben Schwartz and some other comedians off mic. Are you a big comedy fan?
Sara: Pete Holmes is one of my favorite comedians and was very important for me spiritually, too. He was raised evangelical and had this very restrictive childhood. He wrote a book called Comedy Sex God and I found it in a little free library when I was here in DC. He talks about his concept of God, which gels pretty well with mine.
Samuel: What’s your concept of God?
Sara: It’s this quote from AC/DC’s road manager Barry Taylor [that Holmes references in stand-up]: God is the name of the blanket we put over mystery to give it shape. I feel like I was agnostic for a while, and this book helped me to be like: I can have a relationship with God that doesn’t involve ‘Sky God.’ And it was a confluence of things – that, and the pandemic, and I wasn’t going to service, and neither were most of my Jewish friends out here.
Then, with there being virtual services, that was a chance for me to start participating. It was helpful to forgive all of the past versions of myself and all of their beliefs. I think you’re Jewish, or you’re not – I don’t believe in hierarchies. It felt like a kismet thing that I happened to pass this little free library at the moment this book was in there. I could have walked in the other direction!
Samuel: What is your Jewish community looking like now? How’s that changed over the past ten years?
Sara: With the pandemic, it was a lot more formal and structured. I was taking a lot of classes through the EDCJCC and Sixth & I and Adas Israel. A lot of my practice was in the classroom. But it’s not really sustainable – you can’t always just be taking a class or reading a book. So, I went to Camp Nai, and did Shabbat Clusters for a while, and accidentally became a coordinator without intending to. Now, my observance and practice is a lot more personal. Like, Shabbat with my friends – this weekend we’re meeting up for a Zabbat, which is Shabbat where we make pizzas.
My dad died last year, and it’s made me very philosophical about, like, what even is the point of life? What does it mean to live and think and be human? What does death mean? All of these things…you’re not guaranteed anything after death, right? You’re just here for this moment in time. What are you going to do with it?
I feel like what you think matters, and what you create matters, even if it’s thrown in the recycling bin the next day. You still live your life knowing that you made it. When my dad was sick, I read Death Valley by Melissa Broder and ended up writing an email to her explaining what I was going through, and how much it meant to me. She responded, which I thought was incredible. It’s all about the connection we have with each other, which is a very Jewish thing.
In some ways, I feel like I’m not as observant as I used to be when I was doing all these classes and going to service every week, but I feel like I’m embodying my Judaism more in my day-to-day life.
Samuel: What else is alive for you Jewishly?
Sara: I’ve been listening to Ina Garten’s memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. I found out she’s Jewish, and her husband is too, and I just had no idea. I do love a memoir where something connects Jewishly. There was this quote from her husband where he said: “If you love it, you’ll be really good at it.” I found that to be true, and that’s been part of my shift in career to be more climate change-centric.
Samuel: Obviously, there have been more favorable conditions for working in that climate change space than there are right now…how are you working through that?
Sara: I got really into Dune last year. I think about it like the Bene Gesserit: Our plans are measured in centuries. There’s a wheel when it comes to political issues; climate change is not at the top of the wheel right now. But it will be again. It’s a Talmudic thing, too. We’re not free to put down the work just because it isn’t at the top of the wheel right now.
Samuel: A few quick ones to end. As a former entomologist, what do you have to say about the spotted lanternflies that have been all over this summer?
Sara: Squash ‘em. They’re very beautiful and the nymphs are pretty, too. But alas.
Samuel: What’s something in the DMV that doesn’t get enough shine?
Sara: Ivy and Coney, which is Chicago-themed. And my friends go every year to the Hanukkah pop-up they do. My friends and I also love The Green Zone. And we’re big into pastries, too, so we love Yellow and Pluma near Union Market. Then, on the other side of town is Rose Ave…one of the things I love most about DC is how multicultural it is. We’re very lucky.
Samuel: What are you feeling proud about right now?
Sara: I’m very excited about officiating a friend’s wedding. Also, one of my best friends back in Texas just had a baby and asked me to be their godmother. It’s these life cycles, perpetuating forward. Life is all about connection and relationships and showing up for each other, and that feels like a very positive thing to be doing at a time where a lot of things feel futile and awful, when it feels like it would be better to tune out and drop off. The most constructive thing that we can do is be together.
Samuel: You can host three people at Shabbat dinner. Who are they?
Sara: Ina Garten, Ben Schwartz, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Samuel: Last one. Finish the sentence: When Jews of the DMV gather…
Sara: I’ll bring the Tums.
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