Ellen Braunstein
Interfaith Philadelphia brings people together “to dare to understand each other,” said Sara Zebovitz, associate director of the nonprofit, which formed in the wake of 9/11.
“If we have a greater understanding of one another and of each other’s beliefs, then our society is going to be more compassionate and more just,” she said.
Zebovitz, 33, joined Interfaith Philadelphia in 2017 as a participant in its Visionary Women educational program. In 2020, she was named director of institutional advancement. Last year, she became associate director.
“I was looking for a place to work that meant something to me and where I could really bring my true self. My Judaism has always inspired me to love the stranger,” said Zebovitz, an observant Jew.
A newcomer to Mount Airy, she began attending the Minyan Masorti at Germantown Jewish Centre.
Interfaith work attracted her, in part, because so many of her friends and extended family members weren’t Jewish.
“The way Judaism encourages us to look at the whole world and not just ourselves — that really motivated me,” she said.
Zebovitz grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Elkins Park. She attended Perelman Jewish Day School, and her family belonged to Congregation Adath Jeshurun.
“That shaped my Judaism. I went to synagogue every Saturday morning, observed the holidays, became Shomer Shabbat, all of which I still do.”
Her summers at Camp Galil in Bucks County also had an influence.
“I was having deep conversations with so many different kinds of Jews at camp about what our Jewish values are and how we want to be living them out in our lives,” she said.
Camp Galil is part of Habonim Dror North America, the progressive Labor Zionist youth movement. After a gap year in Israel, Zebovitz directed year-round programming for Galil in 2012 before becoming summer director in 2014.
From there, she served as national director of Habonim Dror, based in Brooklyn, New York, until 2017. She also reinvigorated the American Zionist Youth Council.
“That’s my whole connection to Israel, my Zionism, my connection to a sense of responsibility over the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” she said.
In 2018, Zebovitz left Habonim Dror and moved to Be’er Sheva in Israel as part of a network of urban kibbutzim. She worked with teens in their gap year and with 10th-grade students spending the summer in Israel. She also worked with Israeli youth at the start of their army service.
That year, she made aliyah, a path she wanted to take since she was a teen. Two years later, during the pandemic, she returned to Philadelphia.
“I came back to be closer to family. It was harder than I thought,” she said. “I have two homes now and neither of them are complete.”
Zebovitz is still involved with Habonim Dror as chair of its grants committee. She also serves on the board of Ameinu, a progressive American Jewish organization seeking social and economic justice in Israel and the U.S.
“For me, the impact of Oct. 7 wasn’t just that day and those lives lost; it has continued with overwhelming grief,” she said. “Several of my friends and students have been called into the reserves and injured in the war as well.”
Zebovitz has studied both Hebrew and Arabic, a similar language, “because I felt like my Judaism told me to. I think this exploration of people around us and seeing the divine spark in every person is what Judaism says to do.”
Her Jewish values inform all that she does, she said.
“I know that the Jewish community and Judaism and the Torah has stated what our responsibility is to the community around us and to build relationships,” Zebovitz said.
When she develops youth programs, she strives to “give young people confidence in who they are and help them articulate their own beliefs and values so they can get to know others in the way that they know themselves. I want to be able to inspire their interactions and be confident in themselves and in their faith.”
Zebovitz converses with board members, donors and others about Interfaith Philadelphia.
“The conversations are about stories from our faith prayers that stand out to us and that inspire us to do good in the world,” she said. “There are definitely differences and I find it so cool to learn about them just because I feel like I understand the world in a totally different way as a result.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.