Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
Sarah Kolker is Jewish and always has been, but her view of the world is informed by other traditions as well. Growing up, she was familiar with the Talmud, but the adults around her also read the Quran and the Bible and discussed all three.
The artist and activist, who lives in Germantown, said that this upbringing helped inspire her to study visual arts and cultural studies as an undergrad and social justice activism and more art as a graduate student. In today’s world, it inspires her to bridge the gap between communities that are separated by mountains of tension.
“A lot of people feel scared to honor and celebrate who they are and their Jewish heritage. And I think that it’s made me more dedicated to the work that I’m doing,” she said. “What happened at that time and beforehand really doesn’t impact me being Jewish, in a sense, so I’ve been really standing true to that and not being afraid to have hard conversations.”
Kolker is not currently a member of a synagogue, but she said that she still observes holidays and has attended synagogues for services or events. She was raised as a member of Folkshul, a community she still identifies with because of its secular, humanistic approach to Judaism. She previously belonged to the Germantown Jewish Centre, where her kids attended day care, and she has also attended services at Mishkan Shalom.
Her work now centers on two activities: art and activism. She serves as director of jkid4all, an organization that works on behalf of Jewish families of color.
“I was surrounded by a lot of activist Jews growing up in our faith and mixed-race Jews my whole life in the community that I was in,” she said.
Last year, she began work on a project with Jewish Learning Venture called “We Belong at the Table,” which features Jews of color, their culinary traditions and more about their lives and worship practices. She is working with a Jewish filmmaker from Puerto Rico on the project, which features a number of short films.
“These films are now a part of the Weitzman Museum, which got a big grant to do Jewish curriculum for public schools in the area, and it includes the films to show how diverse the Jewish people are,” she said.
Kolker said that an estimate by the Jews of Color Initiative estimates that Jews of color make up 12 to 15% of the Jewish population. She said that “a lot of the conversation that’s coming up at this exact moment” is about how traditional Ashkenazi settings don’t always “see and communicate the richness and diversity of all Jews.”
She noted that there are also conversations about whether the term “Jews of color” should apply at all, and how maybe “we should be focusing less on identity politics and more just on honoring how rich all Jewish people’s cultures and backgrounds are.”
For Kolker, one of the best ways to appreciate each other’s cultures and backgrounds is through art, particularly mural art, which she wrote about while studying for her graduate degree in education with an emphasis in special needs populations.
“I wrote one of my essays on the importance of mural work as an innate tool to tap into students’ different abilities and creating collaboration, because there’s so many different things to do, and there’s so many setups that can meet the students where they are,” she said. “Everybody just comes together and works together. It brings the community together, and they feel a sense of pride in being able to help out and put their hand on it. It also enlivens and beautifies neighborhoods.”
Kolker said that the effects of beautiful mural art can be seen wherever such art is displayed. In fact, there are secondary benefits that one might not think of.
“People feel less inclined to litter or do things that are not so exciting when it looks like the people of [that neighborhood] care and are coming out and supporting this beautiful creation of a mural,” she said.
Working in activist circles in recent years means that Kolker, as a Jew, has had to answer tough questions. She said, however, that the important work she has done since Oct. 7, 2023, is not talking.
“One of the biggest things that I have been doing since Oct. 7 is a lot of listening, and recognizing that I don’t have all the answers,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people have stopped wanting to have these conversations and I really think that one of the strongest things about being Jewish is our discourse and our desire for more learning, more knowledge and conversation. I think that our willingness to stand strong in our history and being guided by our values is very important.”
