JCC Harlem – 318 W 118th St, New York, NY 10026

Current circumstances have exacerbated the existing crisis of food insecurity in this country.  Meanwhile, an unexpected consequence of the pandemic has been reconnecting us to how and what we eat as we spend more time at home. In Hillel Smith’s paired murals, What Sustains Us, he was inspired by the two quotes bracketing the beginning and end of Birkat Hamazon (the traditional prayer said after eating): “Hazan et hakol” (thanking God for sustaining everything and everyone) and “Na’ar Hayiti v’gam zakanti v’lo raiti tzadik ne’ezav…” (I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken…) He has designed a language of faces and body parts built out of utensils and food items—spoons, forks, knives, fruits, and veggies—that offer fun and whimsical encouragement to think about all that connects our bodies to what we eat. 

Harlem JCC occupies a neighborhood that had been heavily Jewish, then became home to Black and Hispanic communities, and now is again home to Jews in a diverse environment. This mural, printed on giant vinyl banners and installed in their outdoor play and function space (we were unable to paint directly on the brick), features the text of “Na’ar Hayiti” (originally from (Psalms 37:25) on the far right, with an array of food faces and bodies tracing growth from infancy to youth, adulthood, and old age. In the center are two faces that honor the communities who live here now and in generations past.