Zoë Smith describes herself as a “very busy lady.”
She began her role as the coordinator of Jewish life and middle school Judaics teacher at Gesher Day School in August 2024. Smith runs an art studio, Acavia Arts, where she designs custom-made Judaica and keeps her two kittens out of trouble.
Before starting at Gesher, she worked for the Jewish sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi, BBYO and Alexander Muss High School in Israel and the Union for Reform Judaism at the Religious Action Center.
Smith lives in Arlington with her partner and they belong to Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, which has a huge Jewish population. My public school was about 90 percent Jewish, so I grew up in a very strong Jewish bubble. My grandfather, my mom’s dad, survived the Holocaust as an adult, and that had a huge influence on how we were raised. I have two older brothers and all of us were raised with an incredibly strong Jewish identity.
My grandfather’s mom is a direct descendant of Rabbi Moshe Auerbach, so we have had rabbis in our family until post-World War II since the late 1300s. While we grew up going to a Reform congregation, we also grew up with a really strong family tradition rooted in old European-style Judaism; you’re taught to think and ask questions and dive in the Jewish text. I was raised in a strong Zionist family as well: I went to Israel as a teenager twice, I lived there in college for a time, I’ve been back as an adult and one of my master’s degrees is in Israel education.
Have you always wanted to work in Jewish education?
Absolutely not. It was absolutely not on my career card when I was filling it out in high school. I actually applied to college as a premed major, and then I realized I didn’t want to be a doctor because it would be too long; I didn’t want to go to school for that long. And the irony is not lost on me that now I’m just forever in school.
What are your responsibilities at Gesher?
Part of my job is middle school teaching. I teach three classes. Two of them are Jewish history classes, a sixth grade and seventh grade class that focuses on different time periods and what Jewish life was like during those times. I also teach our Jewish studies program; we have a three-year rotation. This year we are focusing on individual stories as well as different laws and interpretations, so it involves talking about the life cycle. What does it mean to have a Jewish wedding? What does death look like in Judaism? They get a combination of Tanakh and rabbinic thought in that class.
I oversee the tefillah for middle school. Our middle schoolers run a full shacharit morning service every day. On Thursday[s], we do a full Torah service they lead. Part of my role is teaching them all the prayers, and not just teaching it so they know them, but helping them learn how they can take on these roles in their community.
I sit on our advancement team to be the voice of the Jewish approach to everything we do, whether it’s the student council elections or the book fair or making sure that families have their baked goods dropped off for the High Holidays. I also get to oversee what Jewish life looks like at Gesher. I write holiday guides; I wanted to provide a resource for our faculty and our families as a way to take the learning home. We don’t just talk about the story of Passover at school; I give them recipes, terms to know and why it’s important to us as a community to continue that learning. I coordinate all Shabbat experiences, from Tot Shabbat-style for our youngest kids to a full Kabbalat Shabbat program for our oldest kids on Fridays.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
One of my favorite things has been [overseeing] our bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. When a student has a b’nai mitzvah, they can choose to have them at Gesher on a Thursday. Getting to brag about my students and getting to see them take on additional mitzvot is for me the epitome of the concept of l’dor v’dor.
The easy answer is knowing these kids; they’re fun, they’re smart and they’re proud to be Jewish. The last year hasn’t been fun necessarily for Jewish people, and that there are these kids out there who want to be Jewish and are so proud to be Jewish makes me excited every day to get out of bed at 6 a.m. and get myself to school.
What prompted you to start your art studio?
It’s a joy to bring together Jewish life and art. I’ve always been an artist; my mom’s an artist, so it’s a joy for me to combine these two passions of mine to create art that’s meaningful for my clients.
I had always wanted to start an art studio and I finally gave in. My partner pushed me to do it instead of just talking about it. He has been incredibly supportive in helping me make my website and helping things get off the ground. Having a partner who is supportive of all your dreams is everyone’s literal dream.
