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Parsha Posters 
By Hillel Smith 
In the Bodzin Art Gallery until April 12, 2026 

I learned about the art of Hillel Smith through one of my luckiest web searches. It was 2017, and the J had just been vandalized. As a curator, I can choose to respond to the many societal challenges around us in my practice. Since this challenge was deeply personal and traumatic to our community, I felt it was necessary to respond by putting together a Jewish Graffiti exhibition. I began a search for artists to highlight.  

At the time, Hillel’s website said he was L.A.-based, but his work was so compelling, I reached out anyway. And guess what? He had just moved to D.C. It was bashert (fate). Hillel shared his original art and some photographs of murals he’d painted in the U.S. and Israel alongside work by local artist Ari Krasner (the Spray Paint Lady) and artist, author, and educator Rabbi Mat Tonti. 

Shortly after the Jewish Graffiti exhibition turned spray paint into a positive medium for our community, Hillel proudly published Parsha Posters, a book showcasing his series of posters “advertising” the parshat hashavua (weekly Torah portion). The posters utilize innovative Hebrew typography — each one integrates the Hebrew name of the parsha into the illustration — and a bold, graphic aesthetic to tell biblical stories in a new way.  

It’s a pleasure to collaborate with Hillel again and to show all 54 parashiyot in the Bodzin Art Gallery. Posters and books are for sale, with a portion of proceeds benefitting the Bodzin Art Gallery. 

You are a graphic designer, illustrator, mural painter, and Judaica artist. How did you get started and what keeps you going? 

I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a little kid and could first hold a marker. My parents noticed how much I enjoyed making things and enrolled me in various art classes from a young age. As I got older, the classes became more technical and formal, and I learned to draw with charcoal and paint with watercolors and oil paints.  

I designed our high school yearbook and did layout for the school newspaper, without any idea that this was an actual discipline called graphic design. I just wanted to make it look good. In college, I had the opportunity to try all kinds of media and techniques, like silkscreen and woodblock printing, and took my first formal design classes.  

I worked as a graphic designer for a number of years after graduating and took every opportunity to include my own illustrations in projects for clients. Over time, I flipped my hyphens from designer-illustrator to illustrator-designer and added more titles to the string, like muralist and papercraft artist.  

I’d hate being restricted to only one medium for the rest of my life. Picking the right form for each idea and project is what keeps things interesting for me. Ultimately, I’m grateful that I’ve made a career out of doing what I love. 

When did Judaism start to inspire the content of your art?  

I had always kept the Jewish and artistic parts of my life separate. It wasn’t many years after college that I was experimenting with spray paint techniques and thought it would be interesting to make a set of Hebrew letters on a poster that only appeared when two stencil layers lined up.  

I had some success previously getting pieces into local group art shows but was having trouble coming up with ideas for new work. A friend saw this Hebrew piece and encouraged me to do more, saying it was totally different than what was out there and clearly something I was passionate about. It was good advice!  

I did start making more art with Jewish content and found endless inspiration there. It’s been over a decade and I haven’t stopped. 

Tell us more about your process of creating a poster for each of the 54 parashiyot in the Torah?  

Every week, usually on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, I’d sit down with a chumash (the Torah in book format) and read the parsha for the upcoming week. I had a few different translations at home, and I’d cycle through them or even read a few at the same time to see how they were interpreting the text. 

As I read, I tried to pinpoint what felt like the emotional core of the parsha, meaning the single most important event (in my eyes, at least) that everything else centered on. Sometimes that would be the most famous story we all know, but sometimes it was a lesser-known passage or an artistically overlooked one.  

Then to turn that object, person, event, or action into a poster, I’d pay close attention to any visual language the text used, as well as think about colors and other iconography that could create the feeling I wanted to convey. These stories resonate with us today because they carry emotional heft. My ultimate goal was to create something that expressed that feeling in a focused way, rather than telling a literal story.  

I usually started with too much detail and stripped it away until it felt as clean and direct as I wanted. As I mulled and sketched, I’d try to figure out how the name of the parsha fit into the illustration. Maybe the letters made up an object, or maybe they were each an object or the background. Sometimes my first sketch was perfect and turned into the final art with minimal editing. Sometimes it took a bunch of tries to get a concept that worked, and the drawing itself needed a lot of revision.  

But no matter how much trouble I had, or even if I thought I should scrap a concept and start over, I still needed to finish the poster by Thursday to post it online and mail it out before Shabbat! After a whole year, I had read the entire Torah for the first time from beginning to end and made a body of work I’m really proud of. 

 What advice do you have for aspiring artists? 

First, an artist is someone who makes art, so to be an artist you have to actually go make things. Don’t let fear of imperfection or artist’s block or judgment stop you. Keep making things. The more you make things, the better you get at making things, which is convenient.  

Personal challenges — like “I’m going to illustrate every Torah portion for a year” or “I’m going to do this Instagram challenge of drawing a celebrity every day for a month” — can be helpful in giving you a thing to do and a framework to do it in without having to think much about it. Plus, those quick deadlines will prepare you for the real world of client deadlines and teach you about understanding when a piece is done enough. (Put another way, every piece has an arbitrary stopping point. Knowing when to stop and move on is incredibly important.)  

While you don’t have to show everything you make to other people, if you want to be a professional, you have to get used to sharing your art. Then you can also get feedback on how to make your art better. Be open to feedback, and don’t take it personally! There’s always room for improvement.  

Next, take every opportunity to learn new skills, whether by taking formal classes in or after school or doing online tutorials. You may discover a new medium you absolutely love or a technique that changes the way you approach your work.  

Finally, if you want art to be a job, you have to treat it like one. You have to get up every day, work, take feedback, revise, call the piece finished, put it out into the world, do all the admin stuff (until you’re rich enough that you can hire someone to do it for you), and then do it all again the next day. It’s hard! But if you enjoy it and find good opportunities and good people to work with and work for, you’ll have a great time. 

It’s that time of year again – when you take stock of your lifestyle and vow to do things better in the new year. But according to the Internet, only 9% of people who make New Year’s resolutions keep those beneficial habits all year.

While I can’t find a source for that statistic, we all know from personal experience how hard it is to sustain a new healthy habit. Well, guess what? Your Pozez JCC membership is the secret solution to keeping your New Year’s resolutions past the 30-day mark.

Here are some of the most common New Year’s resolutions, and how the J can help you achieve them.

Resolution: Embrace a healthy lifestyle

If you’re committed to exercising more in the new year, either to lose weight or get stronger or improve your heart health, the J-Fit Health Club can help you embrace a healthier lifestyle. Unlike gyms you might have tried before, J-Fit is a nonjudgmental zone. You don’t have to rock action-hero abs or sculpted arms to be welcome at the weight rack or on the resistance machines. No one will give you side-eye for walking rather than sprinting on the treadmill.

Plus, the friendly staff is here to help you start or continue your fitness journey. You can sign up for personal or small-group training to get individual attention as you develop a fitness plan. If you need social motivation, the J offers six days of group fitness classes each week, including pool-based workouts and senior-focused classes.

If saving money is also on your resolutions list, take advantage of J-Fit’s limited-time promotions to get extra value from your membership.

Resolution: Make new friends

Most people I know complain they don’t have enough friends, whether they’re busy working moms or retirees who have left the social environment of their former workplace. If expanding your social circle is a 2026 goal, the J can play matchmaker, no matter your age or stage. Kids easily make friends at our youth programs, including the Chai 5 after school program and Camp Achva summer day camp. Neurodiverse kids and young adults can expand their social horizons through the J’s inclusion and disability services, such as social skills classes and the Going Places monthly social club.

Parents of young kids will bond while their children enjoy activities like apple picking, holiday parties and crafts through Growing Jewish Families events. They also chat in the hallways during ECLC pickup; don’t estimate the power of preschool friend birthday parties for making new adult connections. The J hosts a number of affinity groups where likeminded people can get together to discuss books, men’s and women’s issues, and local news. Widows and widowers can ease their loneliness at monthly support groups in Herndon and Fairfax.

But, really, if new friends are the goal, just take a seat in the J’s main lobby. It’s a happening hangout, especially for the senior set, and pretty soon, you’ll get roped into a card game and everyone will know your name.

Resolution: Volunteer more and give to charity

Some New Year’s resolutions have a social impact bent. If you’d like to make the world a better place by giving your time and money to good causes, start your foray into tikkun olam at the J. If you have time to share, go to the J’s Volunteer Services page to find opportunities to cook and serve food to our unhoused neighbors or give rides to seniors who no longer drive with NV Rides. If you have money to give, you can donate to the J’s many programs that are free to the community or give to sustain the J itself. We also partner with the Sunrise Association to run a free camp and offer free activities for children fighting cancer. Your donation to the Sunrise Day Camp—Greater Washington will have a big impact on area families – and keep you on track with your resolutions.

Resolution: Learn a new skill

Lifelong learning is a trend these days, and it’s never too late to learn a new skill. Check out the J’s Adult Learning programs if you’d like to embrace your inner student in 2026.

Choose from language classes in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Spanish for novice and intermediate-level students. Our Mah Jongg and pickleball classes will not only teach you new skills but serve as a fabulous social opportunity (knocking off two resolutions for the price of one). The J offers swim lessons to members of all ages, from babies to seniors.

Spend more time with family

Spending time with family is a worthy resolution and one that starts at home – but it doesn’t stop there. The J makes space for parents and children to create memories together through its family programming at the center and around Northern Virginia.

Families can splash and play together during Saturday morning family swim times at the Aquatic Center or join hands for weekly Israeli Dance sessions. Young families can learn about Shabbat and holidays or just have fun at Growing Jewish Families events. Plus, keep an eye on the J’s calendar or weekly emails for one-off all-ages events, like our annual Hanukkah party.

If you’re resolved to try something new in the new year, the J is resolved to support your goals. Maybe we’ll see you here on January 1 for New Year’s Day bootcamp. If not, we’ll be here when you’re ready to rock those resolutions.

For me, fall is a season associated with food traditions and childhood memories. Growing up in West Virginia, October was when we gathered the last fruits and vegetables of the garden, and I spent long afternoons with my grandmother in the kitchen, canning food to prepare for winter.  

Together, we canned everything we could. We turned fresh tomatoes into spaghetti sauce and salsa. We transformed cucumbers into crisp dill and bread-and-butter pickles, the jars topped with a grape leaf from wild vines. We’d pack green beans, butter beans (my personal favorite) and golden corn kernels into jars, scraping the knife down the side and back up to get all the sweet goodness – hoping to preserve that taste of summer sunshine.  

When my grandmother’s basement shelves were finally lined with jars, it felt like we had bottled up both food and love to carry us through the cold months. Back then, my family lived on a “hollow” with my grandparents and my aunt’s family, and we shared our fall harvest with our little community at holiday celebrations and gatherings throughout the year.  

This tradition of storing and sharing the garden’s abundance has stayed with me. That’s why I love the J’s community garden, where we grow fresh produce to donate to families in need. The J has joined together with our neighbor, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, to fight hunger and food insecurity in Northern Virginia.  

This year, we are proud to be sending the fruits of our collective labor to Food for Others, an organization that ensures good food makes its way to neighbors who need it most. I’ve added vegetables from my home garden to the donation boxes, as well because I feel strongly that our harvest should be shared. 

I also love how the garden brings the community together through a shared sense of purpose. More than 60 volunteers have given their time to prepare the garden site, plant seeds, maintain the garden, and harvest the fruits and vegetables we grew together. Working in the community garden with volunteers of all ages has given me the same sense of connection I first learned as a child, canning food with my grandmother to share with our family and community. 

There is something deeply grounding about gardening, planting, tending, and then sharing the harvest. Whether you grew up with rows of jars lining your basement or are just now getting your hands into the soil, the act of giving back through food is a powerful way to celebrate fall Jewishly. Together, as a community, we can carry the warmth of the garden into the months ahead.  

If you’d like to volunteer in the community garden and help the J address issues of hunger in our community, look for opportunities on our volunteer services website in the spring when the garden will need to be prepped for next year’s growing season.  

Want to help now? Make a donation to the J to support the garden and all of our community engagement programs or sign up for one of our many other volunteer opportunities. 

On Monday, June 23rd, Sunrise Day Camp—Greater Washington will welcome 70 or more children with cancer and their siblings to summer camp. For the 29 BEST days of summer, we’ll sing, laugh, play, create, and build the bonds that only summer camp can foster. I live all year long for these 29 days, and know I’m not alone.

I could speak to you for hours, days, and months about how important summer camp is for kids with cancer and those affected by their cancer. I have seen with my own eyes for 10 summers of my life how important this experience is to our campers. But I would really like to speak with you about a group that we don’t usually center in this conversation: their camp counselors.

I have 58 staff members this summer. 20 of them are returning for another summer of Sunrise (with five founding staff members who began with us in 2022). I am so thankful to these returning staff members, who bring with them so much love and institutional knowledge about our growing camp. I’m nearly buzzing with excitement for the 38 brand new staff members I have at camp who are about to embark on a life-changing experience. I know it’s life changing, because the experience they are about to have changed my life 20 summers ago.

In 2006, I had the opportunity to join the first ever staff of Sunrise Day Camp on Long Island, the flagship camp of the Sunrise Association. So many of the traditions we started that summer continue as the Sunrise Association enters its 20th summer offering free summer camp to children with cancer and their siblings. I spent 6 summers at Sunrise, during which I realized that my journey in life was to work with children. No one told me that there were summer camp jobs that lasted all year long, and so I became a teacher. This year, I completed my 15th year of teaching and though it hasn’t always been easy, I can’t imagine my life any other way. At this point, not even 40 years old, I have touched the lives of 1,500 kids, having the fortune to have been a small part of their story. I have been able to laugh with them, teach them, play with them, cry with them, and grow with them. It also allows me the freedom in the summertime to run Sunrise Day Camp (along with a few of my former 7th grade students!) There is no better job than the one I have.

So each summer I tell my new staff how excited I am to be part of their summer at Sunrise, because I know it will be a turning point in their lives. I tell them that from this point, there will always be “before I worked at Sunrise Day Camp, and after I worked at Sunrise Day Camp.” I am so excited for them to meet their campers tomorrow and make summer camp magic for the 29 best days of camp.

Learn more about Sunrise Day Camp – Greater Washington.

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As a Black woman in America, Juneteenth holds deep meaning for me. It’s a celebration of freedom, and a reminder of the resilience my ancestors carried through centuries of bondage, pain, and perseverance. It’s also a day that calls for reflection—on progress, on justice, and on the shared humanity that binds us all.

In the past year, I’ve found many connections between the story of Juneteenth and the values upheld in Jewish tradition. Though I’m not Jewish, I have the privilege of working closely with the Jewish community, and I’ve seen firsthand how deeply rooted the values of justice, freedom, and remembrance are in Jewish culture.

Repairing the World

One concept that resonates with me is tikkun olam—the Jewish call to “repair the world.” It’s a value that doesn’t just call for kindness; it demands action. It reminds me that true freedom isn’t just about breaking physical chains—it’s about building a world where dignity, safety, and opportunity are accessible to everyone.

Never Forget

Both Black and Jewish communities carry the weight of memory—of trauma, loss, and survival. 

“Never forget” is a phrase that echoes in both cultures, urging us to learn from history and to speak out against injustice. Juneteenth is more than a historical marker; it’s a call to keep moving forward, together.

Standing Together

As we honor Juneteenth, I hope more communities—Jewish and beyond—will continue to stand with us, not only in celebration but in commitment. We all have a role to play in creating a better, more just society. And when we come together with open hearts and shared values, I truly believe that healing, change, and freedom are possible.

Personally, this winter wore me down mentally. It was colder than I can remember being in a long while and, for me, going outside without good reason was not an option. Spring couldn’t come soon enough.

I adore spring in the Greater DC area; it brings a breath of fresh air, both literally and metaphorically. The cherry blossoms bloom, parks turn green, and the warmth of the sun ushers in a time of renewal. For adults and seniors, this season represents an opportunity to shake off the winter blues, reconnect with nature, and build meaningful bonds within the community. The changing of the seasons is a reminder that, like nature, we too are capable of renewal, growth, and embracing the beauty of what lies ahead.

One of the most iconic signs of spring in the Greater D.C. area is the annual cherry blossom bloom. These delicate flowers, with their soft pink and white petals, are a powerful symbol of resilience and rebirth. The trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, have become an annual spectacle, drawing visitors from all walks of life. For seniors and adults who have weathered many seasons, the cherry blossoms serve as a poignant reminder of life’s transience and the importance of savoring the present moment.

In Jewish tradition, we acknowledge this idea through the concept of “Hakarat Hatov”—recognizing the good in our lives. Much like the brief yet beautiful bloom of the cherry blossoms, we are encouraged to appreciate the fleeting yet meaningful moments that bring us joy and connection.

As I sit here writing this blog, I look out at the pond in my backyard and see the turtles sunbathing on the mound which will eventually spout a small water fountain in the coming days. Though the trees around the pond have barely begun to sprout their buds, this sign of early spring is a small moment in time that I treasure, knowing that warm weather is finally coming.

Spring also brings with it the celebration of Jewish traditions, such as Passover, a holiday deeply rooted in themes of freedom and renewal. After a winter of introspection, Passover provides a time for family gatherings, spiritual reflection, and the sharing of traditions.

If you’ve never experienced a Passover Seder before or are looking for innovative ideas for your own, our Passover Mock Seder & Chametz Dinner on Tuesday, April 8 will be a fun way to get together with friends and learn about this wonderful tradition.

After months spent indoors, spring invites us to embrace nature and prioritize wellness. The warm weather encourages outdoor activities, from biking outside with friends or gentle walks in the park to leisurely hikes in nature reserves. Being surrounded by the beauty of spring can boost mood, improve well-being, and inspire a renewed sense of energy. We have a fabulous spring trip planned for adults to visit Hillwood Estate and Gardens on May 21^st with a tour of the beautiful gardens on the estate. If you’ve never been there or would love to see it again, please join us. What more could you ask for than enjoying the beauty of nature with your community and friends?

Spring in the Greater D.C. area offers a welcome reprieve from the long winter. It’s a season of renewal, a time to step outside, embrace the beauty of nature, and reconnect with others. For adults and seniors in the Jewish community, spring is a reminder that, just like the cherry blossoms, the turtles, and the daffodils, we too can emerge from the cold, find strength in community, and experience the joy of new beginnings. Whether through spiritual reflection, outdoor activities, or social events, spring brings with it an abundance of opportunities to rebuild connections, foster wellness, and celebrate the warmth of the season.