1) What qualities make the nominee deserving of the Z3 Bridge Builder Award?

Sara Winkelman has spent her entire career—and personal life—building bridges within the Jewish community. Whether as a professional educator, program director, community connector, or gracious Shabbat host, Sara brings together people across lines of denomination, identity, affiliation, age, gender, and geography. Sara creates spaces where differences are not just acknowledged, they are engaged with, respected, and transformed into connection. Her deep belief in Jewish peoplehood, paired with her gift for listening and creating safe, meaningful spaces, makes her an extraordinary candidate for the Z3 Bridge Builder Award.

Professionally, Sara serves as Director of Education Programs & Services at the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington. There, she launched the Student to Student (STS), a high school peer education initiative where Jewish students visit public and private schools to share their personal Jewish stories. Since 2019, Sara started and expanded STS from just 8 student presenters to over 120 annually, with more than 500 alumni who remain connected to one another and to their Jewish identities.

What sets Sara’s work apart is her intentional intracommunal focus. STS is not only an anti-bias tool for non-Jewish audiences—it’s a deeply pluralistic experience for the Jewish teens themselves. Sara actively recruits students from all streams and expressions of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular, and culturally Jewish. These students train and present together, learning to speak about their own practices while respectfully representing others. Through this process, students build empathy, dismantle assumptions, question assumptions, and explore what it means to be part of Am Yisrael across differences.

Sara’s approach fosters unity through authentic relationship-building and dialogue. Her mentorship helps teens articulate their beliefs and engage with divergent viewpoints in a spirit of curiosity and respect. In doing so, she not only prepares them to represent Jewish life to non-Jewish peers but strengthens their ability to work across difference within the Jewish community itself.

Bridge-building isn’t just Sara’s job—it’s part of how she lives. Her Shabbat table regularly brings together a cross-section of the Jewish world: observant families, interfaith couples, unaffiliated seekers, and longtime friends. Her home radiates warmth, humor, and curiosity, creating a space where people feel safe enough to connect across lines they might otherwise avoid.

Sara’s 20+ year career—including positions at the JCC, Jewish Federation, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee—reflects a sustained commitment to bringing people together across lines of difference. She has launched initiatives, built coalitions, and facilitated communal growth grounded in dialogue and mutual respect.

Through a combination of vision, heart, and skill, Sara has become a rare and invaluable bridge builder—empowering others to do the same.  Her leadership not only bridges divides—it empowers others to do the same. She is a true architect of unity in a time when it is urgently needed.

2) In what ways has the nominee demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to their work in bridging divides?

Sara Winkelman’s leadership is marked by intentionality, empathy, and long-term impact. Whether developing national initiatives, consulting across communities, or building relationships, one person at a time.  She demonstrates a rare capacity to lead with both strategic foresight and human warmth.

At the JCRC of Greater Washington, Sara has grown Student to Student (STS) into one of the region’s most transformative Jewish teen leadership programs. She has built strong, trusted partnerships with rabbis, youth group leaders, educators, and families across the denominational and institutional spectrum.

Each year, Sara and her expanding team, curates STS cohorts with great care, ensuring that all denominations are represented—and, just as importantly, feel comfortable and supported. Students are taught to share their own story while acknowledging that Judaism is practiced in many different ways. They learn to explain practices they don’t follow themselves, building empathy and a sense of responsibility to the broader Jewish people.

Nationally, Sara serves as a mentor to other STS professionals as part of the national effort of Be the Narrative, helping shape STS program to work in over 40 communities across the country. She shares best practices, offers direct guidance, and presents regularly at national gatherings. Her collaborative approach helps others replicate her model of bridge-building in diverse contexts across North America.

Sara’s commitment to unity predates her work at the JCRC. As Director of Nishmah: The St. Louis Jewish Women’s Project, she led innovative programs that brought together Jewish women across denominational, generational, and political lines. Sara led the growth of this Jewish women’s initiative recognized three years in a row by Slingshot for innovation. There, she tripled program participation, grew the volunteer base from 50 to 150, and developed deep, meaningful engagement with women and girls across religious, generational, and political lines. Her work empowered participants to explore Jewish identity in ways that often bridged otherwise siloed communities.  With Sara’s leadership, Nishmah strengthened the Jewish community by building bridges between Jewish women leaders of different denominations through the Jewish community. One signature initiative—the Jewish Women’s Shabbat Retreat—was planned by a diverse group of 50 volunteers who created a pluralistic experience that respected each woman’s Shabbat practice while celebrating their shared identity.

Sara brings a unique combination of emotional intelligence and strategic insight. Her leadership is not performative, it’s deeply relational. She is trusted because she listens. She is effective because she empowers others. And she is committed because she genuinely believes in the possibility of a more connected, compassionate Jewish future.

Through her decades of work, Sara has modeled what it means to lead with integrity and purpose. She has built bridges where there were once silos and helped individuals see themselves as part of something larger—Am Yisrael, the Jewish people.

3) How has the nominee's work impacted the Jewish community and beyond?

Sara Winkelman’s work has had profound and wide-reaching impact—on Jewish individuals, families, institutions, and broader inter and intragroup relations. Her influence can be seen in changed attitudes, strengthened relationships, empowered teens, and a new generation of Jewish leaders.

Within the Jewish community, Sara has created transformative spaces where Jewish diversity is not just acknowledged but celebrated. Through Student to Student (STS), hundreds of teens have had the opportunity to explore their own Jewish identity while being exposed to the richness of others’. Sara often shares the story of an Orthodox presenter who admired a Reform peer’s ability to explain the why behind her practices, while the Reform teen was surprised to discover how relatable her Orthodox classmate felt. These quiet moments of discovery embody the bridge-building power of STS.  Many report that STS was the first time they encountered Jews who practiced differently in a setting rooted in mutual respect. Sara facilitates these encounters with care, turning potential tension into connection and stereotypes into understanding.

The ripple effects extend far beyond the students themselves. Parents report that their children return home more confident and proud of their Jewish identity. Rabbis and educators’ express appreciation for how STS complements their own efforts to build inclusive Jewish spaces. Alumni carry their experiences with them into college and beyond, frequently taking on leadership roles in Jewish campus life, interfaith initiatives, and advocacy efforts. The pluralistic, empathetic mindset they gain under Sara’s guidance enables them to thrive and contribute to complex, diverse communities.

STS also impacts on the broader public as one of Greater Washington’s most effective peer-led anti-bias programs. Each year, Jewish student presenters speak to thousands of non-Jewish peers in public, private, and parochial schools. These interactive sessions humanize Jewish identity, dispel misinformation, and build bridges between communities. Surveys confirm a decrease in antisemitic stereotypes and an increase in empathy and understanding among non-Jewish students.

Sara’s impact is also seen in her advocacy work. She meets regularly with public school administrators to ensure Jewish students' needs are met. She has educated over 2,500 teachers in cultural competency trainings and supported hundreds of families navigating religious accommodation issues in schools. Her behind-the-scenes efforts quietly transform policies and climates in ways that make Jewish students feel safer and more supported.

At Nishmah, Sara’s earlier work also had a significant ripple effect. Jewish women of all ages and affiliations found common purpose in pluralistic programming that honored both difference and shared identity. Many Nishmah alumnae have gone on to become community leaders, carrying forward Sara’s bridge-building ethos in a variety of roles.

Through program design, policy advocacy, education, mentorship, and lived example, Sara has made the Jewish world more interconnected and resilient. In an era of deep polarization and rising antisemitism, Sara’s work equips the next generation with the tools to lead from a place of empathy and courage—within the Jewish community and far beyond.