Home › Blog › Returning to the Source: How a DC Native Sparked a Global Movement for Jewish Women’s Well‑Being
When At The Well founder Sarah Waxman talks about her work, she speaks with the clarity of someone who has spent years listening closely—to her community, to her own body, and to the quiet wisdom embedded in Jewish tradition. But long before At The Well became a global organization supporting tens of thousands of women, its roots were planted in Washington, DC.
In a recent conversation with Dr. Jannah Yutkovitz at the Jewish Community Foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Sarah reflected on her journey home, the unexpected moments that shaped her leadership, and the role that women’s philanthropy in DC played in launching her life’s work.
This is how Sarah describes At The Well today, but the seeds were planted much earlier. Growing up in a deeply engaged Jewish household—kosher home, Hebrew school three days a week, high holidays at Adas Israel, summers at Zionist camp—Judaism was woven into her family’s daily life. Yet something was missing.
As she put it, “The fact that I was raised in a Jewish community, but never knew that there was spirituality in Judaism… just shows the importance of me and my generation to take that and own it, and bring it forward.”
Her upbringing gave her a strong Jewish foundation, but it was her later experiences—athletics, yoga, meditation, teaching, and a long struggle with body image—that helped her understand the profound need for accessible, embodied Jewish spiritual practice.
People often assume Sarah must be from California or New York. She laughs about it.
“They’re always really surprised to hear, no, I’m from Washington, DC… And I actually think that’s been a benefit to me.”
Growing up in a city where wellness culture wasn’t the dominant language helped her see what was missing—not just in DC, but across Jewish communities. Her time in San Francisco later expanded her imagination, but DC shaped her grounding.
She describes herself as someone who can “walk a line”—comfortable in intellectual and political spaces but equally committed to cultivating inner life.
“Without an internal place to go inside your soul… we’re not going to get people to protests, we’re not going to get people to move the needle… That leads to burnout and apathy.”
This belief—that spiritual grounding is essential for communal resilience—sits at the heart of At The Well.
One of the most powerful moments in Sarah’s story begins not with a grand vision, but with a phone call she almost ignored.
Naomi Malka, then the mikvah director at Adas Israel, reached out about a new program funded by the Tikkun Olam Women’s Foundation. The initiative, Bodies of Water, aimed to help teen girls and their mothers explore the mikvah as a ritual for marking the transition into womanhood—especially amid the body image challenges many teens face.
Sarah’s reaction was immediate and visceral.
“I said, there is no way that I’m going to be the synagogue’s bathing suit model.”
She had only recently purchased her first bathing suit in 20 years. She had never been to the mikvah. She was still healing.
But Naomi persisted. And something in Sarah shifted.
“I was like… wow, the universe is calling. And who do I want to be when the universe calls?”
That moment—born of discomfort, vulnerability, and a community of women who saw something in her—became a turning point. It reconnected her to Jewish ritual, to her own body, and ultimately to the idea that Jewish wisdom could be a powerful tool for women’s well‑being.
Sarah’s path was not linear. She spent a decade teaching yoga and mindfulness to children across DC. She deepened her meditation practice. She continued healing her relationship with her body. And slowly, the threads began to weave together.
Her lived experience—athlete, contemplative practitioner, Jewish daughter, DC native—became the foundation for At The Well.
The organization now supports tens of thousands of women through monthly circles, ritual resources, and community gatherings. But at its core, it remains rooted in the same question that guided Sarah from the beginning:
How can Jewish wisdom help us feel whole?
Returning to DC as a founder has been grounding for Sarah. The city’s intellectual energy, its diversity, and its hunger for meaningful community make it fertile soil for At The Well’s next chapter.
She sees enormous potential here—not just for programming, but for partnership.
DC’s women’s philanthropic community, including the Tikkun Olam Women’s Foundation, played a pivotal role in her early journey. Their support helped spark the work that would become At The Well. Today, Sarah believes donors have a unique opportunity to help the movement flourish locally.
Investing in At The Well in DC means:
This is philanthropy as co‑creation—women supporting women to build the Jewish future.
Sarah imagines a DC where Jewish women feel deeply connected—to ritual, to each other, and to their own inner wisdom. A city where Jewish wellness is not an add‑on, but a core expression of Jewish life.
And she knows it will take partnership—philanthropic, relational, and communal—to get there.
But if her story shows anything, it’s that transformation often begins with a single moment of courage. A phone call. A yes. A willingness to step into the water.