Jane is a single Jewish woman (SJW) in her late 20s who grew up in Los Altos, went away to college and moved back to the area for grad school. When she returned, she began looking for a “Jewish community” and attended a local synagogue. She didn’t find it particularly satisfying and has been looking for an informal minyan of other Jews her age with whom to observe Shabbat and holidays.
Brian is a 23-year-old graduate student at Stanford. He was very involved in Israeli politics as an undergrad back East, but has little time to get involved in Israel activities here. He’s not interested in religion or study and isn’t sure what “getting involved” would look like. He occasionally goes to Chabad and is looking for more social events to attend because he finds it hard to meet people.
What do they have in common? Jane and Brian are just two of the 15,000+ Jewish young adults in the South Peninsula that a coalition of agency and synagogue leaders and young adults are seeking to engage in Jewish life.
What do you have in common with them?
Led by JCF’s South Peninsula Regional Council, this planning group wants to know: Who are the Jews of the next generation? What are their interests? Passions? Concerns? Hopes? Expectations? What do they want out of their Jewish lives in the South Peninsula? The group launched an online survey to answer these sorts of questions (the survey remains open through the end of November), and will utilize this information as part of an ongoing planning effort targeted at ensuring our community is offering opportunities compelling to young adults.
If you are 21-40 and work or live in the South Peninsula, please take a few minutes to tell us about yourself and your interests at http://bit.ly/SouthPen
If you know any young Jewish adults, please encourage them to respond. Thank you!
For questions contact. Wendy Verba, Regional Council Planner. 415.512.6424wendyv@sfjcf.org.
We need your VOTE! Jewish Community Heroes – a new UJC interactive user generated content project celebrates the volunteer heroes in our Community. YAD’s Immediate Past President Jordan Sills has been nominated for his volunteer work within the San Francisco Jewish Community.
The winner of Jewish Community Hero project will receive $25,000 to be used as an investment in their community project or non-profit effort via his or her local Jewish Federation, or another recognized 501(c)3 charitable entity. Let’s vote for Jordan and help him bring the prize to San Francisco!
VOTE NOW (and every day until October 8 – don’t worry it is allowed by the rules) and remember to tell all your friends.
Kevin Waldman, the YAD president from 2005-2007, has earned this year’s Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Young Leadership! Waldman is a valued and active Federation lay leader, and is well respected by fellow volunteers and Federation Board members.
Most of you are acquainted with me through some of YAD’s events such as Latke Ball, Club Fed and Blue Monday. And although socializing plays a part in YAD’s role in our community, there’s an even larger and more meaningful purpose in our involvement. YAD is part of the Jewish Community Federation (JCF) —a fundraising organization helping people in need with basic social services — from providing refuge for a victim of domestic abuse to offering seniors transportation to their doctor.
This year’s Annual Campaign is quickly coming to a close on June 30th and the JCF goal has not been reached. Raising money has never been easy, and the added pressure from a changing economic climate has led many Federations to curtail or eliminate programs and staff at a time when the needs for emergency financial aid and loans, job services and scholarships have more than doubled.
This year, YAD has raised $165,000, which is approximately half of last year’s YAD total of $300,000. That leaves an additional 55% gap in funding needed to continue running vital programs.
It’s not just about money. Those dollars translate into a resume workshop for an unemployed father, a hot kosher lunch for a senior on a fixed income, providing comfort to a mother mourning the death of her own parent, keeping a child enrolled in their Jewish school – all supported by your gift.
For those of you who have attended our events in the past but have yet to make a contribution to the Annual Campaign, I urge you to do it now. We have a short window of time to make a huge impact.
This year your gift counts more, literally. Each increased donation of an existing gift or any new gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar.
That’s why I am personally asking for your help. I need you to join me in these last 6 weeks of the 2008-2009 Annual Campaign and make your contribution if you have not done so yet.
Your taking action today demonstrates the Jewish value of taking responsibility, both for our own community and the broader community in need. If you can, please make your gift NOW.
I’m always up for trying new things, so when United Jewish Communities announced that they were trying something new for the 2009 National Young Leadership Mission, I knew that I had to be a part of it. Last month, 600 young Jewish professionals from across North American, including 49 from the Bay Area, came together for the TikkuNOLAm conference focused on rebuilding the broken city of New Orleans.
Part of the San Francisco delegation
The three-day event was a blur of dirt, shovels, ponchos, lumber and power tools. Our tikkun olam (Hebrew for “repairing the world”) project was to rebuild a community center in St. Bernard’s Parish which had been hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. Although the task seemed daunting at first, we came together and did some amazing work. Wearing ponchos to keep out the drizzle and 100% humidity, the San Francisco delegation dug holes and trenches as a foundation for new volleyball courts. Other communities planted flowers, mended fences or built benches. Together the UJC was the largest group of volunteers to visit St. Bernard’s Parish as a single entity.
Lisa, Abra and Adrienne
The participants in our San Francisco delegation gave of themselves and performed tikkun olam each and every day of the conference. I was proud to witness our strong group not only build a part of New Orleans, but also build the bonds for what could be a stronger San Francisco Jewish community. The conference gave many participants their first taste of types of programs that Federation supports and allowed them to view Federation through new eyes. So often we hear from the young adult community that they find it difficult to understand what Federation is. Yet at this conference it was wonderful to not have to explain anything…the experience spoke to everyone more than any words ever could.
Abra Annes
In the coming months the participants of the TikkuNOLAm conference will work together to bring more service projects to the YAD community. I look forward to carrying the momentum that began in New Orleans back to San Francisco. I look forward to engaging more young Jewish leaders, like myself, in building our own community THROUGH helping others.
Abra Annes
Program and Campaign Manager
Young Adults Division
One of our new regular features at Challah Back is Meet the Board, where you get to “meet” this year’s YAD Board. Find out why so many people get involved in YAD and what inspires them!
While I have been in the Bay Area for 12 years, I only recently became involved with YAD. After moving here, I became active in philanthropy work and in supporting the arts. I decided to change my focus as to how I was spending my time and where I giving back after my grandmother’s passing. It was at that time that I felt a strong need to get involved in the Jewish community and more importantly to stay connected to her in a meaningful way.
The question for me though was, “How?” That was when I saw the information posted for Club Fed, which looked like the right place for me to get my feet wet. And my instinct was right. Not having a lot of relationships in the Jewish community, Club Fed seemed like the right setting for me because it was more intimate. Walking into the first session was overwhelming, but within minutes I felt comfortable. In Club Fed, I learned so much about the Federation, giving me a new sense of appreciation and enthusiasm to get more involved. I also met some pretty cool people and thus began my new found interest in the Federation. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I didn’t know about this amazing community until so recently!
This year I am proud to be serving on the Executive Committee as Co-Vice President of Community Building. Our events — including Blue Mondays, Latke Ball, Shabbat dinners and Summer Sizzle — are often the first face of YAD. With that in mind, it is critical that we put on successful, welcoming events that reach out to all types of people in our community. Being that gateway to someone’s first experience to YAD makes our role even more important as our impact is not only immediate, but also long term. If someone has a great experience with us, then they will be back, possibly bring a friend and continue supporting the Federation for many years to come.
It has been a tremendous year and we are only halfway there! Our Blue Mondays reign in an average of 200 attendees and have raised more than $4,000 thus far. Latke Ball beat all records this year with more than 1,000 guests and a 23.5 percent increase in net revenue. We also had an overwhelming response to our Shabbat dinners the last couple months. In addition to raising all kinds of cash for the community and making an impact, our events are the place to be and be seen!
I couldn’t be prouder and more appreciative of the Community Building Team. A special thank you to all of you as well as to Jordan and Lory. My heart is full of happiness and contentment knowing that I have made a difference in the Jewish community in my own way. Mostly, I feel I’ve been able fulfill a commitment to my grandmother by expanding who I am and discovering the importance of my heritage. Thank you for the opportunity to serve on the board and for the lifelong friendships I have made.
Andrea Skor
Here’s to more amazing events and even more giving in 2009!
Andrea Skor
Co-Vice President for Community Building
Young Adults Division Board
Are you looking for something more or something slightly different in our Jewish community? Club Fed is an amazing opportunity for young professionals to actively participate in discussions about Judaism and being Jewish, as well as to expand their social network. It is an incredibly fun, interactive and educational journey into different facets of being Jewish.
Club Fed also offers a closer look at the inner workings of the San Francisco Jewish community, including the agencies and programs that the Jewish Community Federation funds through the annual campaign. Since it is held over the course of five sessions with the same group of 80 YAD individuals, it provides a wonderful opportunity to build lasting connections.
Club Fed sessions are held on Wednesday evenings, every other week from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. with an optional social hour afterward at a local bar. Each session explores a different topic ranging from Jewish Identity to Contemporary Jewish Issues, Israel and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). The fifth session is a “mini-mission” (think fun adult field trip!) to local Jewish sites within our community.
As Club Fed Co-Chairs this year, we strongly encourage you to sign up for this amazing ride. We have some fantastic programming in the works. This year’s Club Fed is going to be great and we want you to be a part of it.
Club Fed is only open to 80 participants on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are only a few spots left! We hope you register and look forward to seeing you on Feb. 11 at our first session.
Ten percent of Jews in the Bay Area live below the poverty line.
More than 10,000 Jewish elderly in the Bay Area need home health care, assisted living or residential services, and one-third rely on a Jewish organization to provide it.
One in every eight children has a disability or learning difference.
The Jewish Community Federation funds a full range of social services including vocational training; assisting seniors, children with special needs and victims of domestic violence; and more.
The Jewish Federation was one of the first responders to Hurricane Katrina and the natural disasters in Burma and China.
The Federation focuses on addressing humanitarian emergencies, Jewish and non-Jewish throughout the world.
YAD, the Young Adults Division of the Federation, raised more than $250,000 toward these programs last year.
If this is news to you, it wouldn’t surprise me. San Francisco’s YAD is known for its fabulous events and well subscribed leadership programs so sometimes the core mission of the parent organization, the Jewish Community Federation, gets lost in the shuffle. It certainly did for me.
Even as a member of the YAD Board last year, the Federation was a bit of an enigma. It wasn’t until I attended the national conference Washington 15 in the spring that I really understood the immensity of work the Federation does and the tremendous impact it has on our community — in San Francisco, nationally, in Israel and around the world.
Why go with this umbrella approach to tzedakah? Why not give to each organization directly and pick and choose? The short answer is that it would be impossible for any one of us to have the time or bandwidth to learn about all of the organizations needed to take care of the community as a whole. The Federation has teams of volunteers and staff who carefully pour through all of the information to optimize impact.
So what does this mean for YAD? Well, we still want to throw great parties, but we also want to give you the opportunity to have an impact on the world at large. To that end, the campaign team is working hard to create greater visibility of where the Federation funds go and the difference that they make. Basically connecting giving to mission.
That $18 you give to Federation instead of a bento box lunch can change the world. Literally.
$7 pays for a college student to partake in a Shabbat dinner at a Hillel.
$20 pays for a one-time resume-writing workshop for an unemployed Bay Area professional.
$32 pays for a kosher Passover seder meal and service for a senior citizen.
$80 pays for an emergency-call pendant enabling a senior to maintain independence while living at Menorah Park.
$200 pays for 25 new books for a Jewish library in the Former Soviet Union.
$365 pays for one month of pre-school for an at-risk Ethiopian-Israeli child.
$5,000 pays for a teen to visit Israel.
$15,435 pays for a child to attend a Jewish pre-school full-time at a JCC for a year.
So stay tuned for programming and information, and let us know what we can do to make the campaign more meaningful for you. You can reach me at [ sygoldstein AT yahoo DOT com]
Sharon Goldstein
Oh, and if you haven’t made your donation to Federation yet this year, please click here to do so.
As Jews, if we don’t take care of our own, who will?
Sharon Goldstein
Co-Vice President of Campaign
Young Adults Division Board
Wow, what an incredible night! The 12th Annual Latke Ball was a rousing success. More than 1,000 party-goers braved the rain and filled Ruby Skye to the brim on Christmas Eve in the name of fun, friends, charity and Dreidel Dreidel cocktails.
The evening began with a special VIP reception on the balcony, which featured delectable desserts by Eliot Collins Catering, Prairie Organic Vodka and Barefoot Bubbly champagne to get the party started. DJ Danman provided a sexy, loungy soundtrack and his live percussion took things to the next level. DJ Solomon took over at halftime and kept everyone grooving until the 2 a.m. finish when the dance floor was still packed and eventually Ruby Skye staff had to politely ask people to make their way towards the exit. That’s my definition of a victorious event!
We are happy to report that we smashed all previous records for money raised at the Latke Ball. All proceeds will fund the entire year’s worth of programming for the Young Adults Division (YAD) of the Jewish Community Federation. This includes subsidizing the Club Fed seminar series, funding the educational speakers series and providing scholarships for UJC’s National Young Leadership Conference in New Orleans this March.
On the day we began planning the Latke Ball, my fearless co-chair, Nathaniel Malka and I decided to designate a special beneficiary organization to receive a portion of the proceeds. This had never been done before, but we felt it was important to show the community that young adults care about causes that may not directly benefit us personally. We selected Camp Tawonga and we’re thrilled to be able to provide the Jewish camp scholarships for children. Even after this donation, our net profits beat the previous record by 23.5 percent.
It was not a Hanukkah miracle that the Latke Ball came together so well. A large debt of gratitude goes to the stellar host committee, which ran like a well-oiled machine reminiscent of the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV. Everyone used their talents, energy and humor to make planning the event even more rewarding and the final outcome so successful. Tamara Wolfson, Nira Goren, Nicole Miller, Ryan Cohen, Erin Leonard, Aren Sandersen and Raphy Mahpour — you guys rock! I owe an enormous thank you to Andrea Skor, Co-Vice President of Community Building for YAD for all of her tireless efforts. I appreciate her unending enthusiasm and care for every event detail down to which shade of “Jewish blue” the napkins should be. More thanks go out to YAD staff members Stephanie Brown, Dina Jacobson and Abra Annes, who kept everything on track and made the night run as smoothly as possible. Also, thank you to YAD Board President Jordan Sills and to all of the YAD board members and everyone else who volunteered at the event.
Finally, a massive thank you to my partner-in-crime, Nathaniel, who kept the Excel spreadsheets rolling, the emails flowing, the to-do lists expanding and made working on the Latke Ball a total blast. Your goal from the very beginning was to ‘pimp the party’ and we can now say with confidence, mission accomplished!
One of our new regular features at Challah Back is Meet the Board, where you get to “meet” this year’s YAD Board. Find out why so many people get involved in YAD and what inspires them!
I initially learned and got involved with the Jewish Federation of San Francisco not by choice, but rather through need. My family immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine in the early 1990s (with the third wave of migration from the former U.S.S.R.). The Federation assisted my family with getting our feet planted on the ground in a new country. We received all kinds of donations — from furniture to household supplies. Since we couldn’t get much through customs and had to start from scratch, this was a huge help to us.
Although I was only 10 years old, I still remember those first years in San Francisco. My whole family (my mom, dad, brother and me) lived in a one-bedroom apartment. We had to make do with what we had since my family had so much to learn about the new system and starting life all over again. My parents started attending English classes at JVS (Jewish Vocational Service), which is a non-profit organization that the Federation supports. I became more involved with the after-school programming in Jewish Family and Children’s Services.
The amount of assistance that we received was incredible, and to this day I am very thankful for everything. The Federation funded Emigre services at the time were absolutely amazing and helped a lot of families establish themselves once they relocated and started their lives over again — which by no means is a small task.
The Federation gave my family a second chance at life without antisemitism (which was the reason my family immigrated to begin with) and more opportunities then we could have imagined were possible. I spoke about my family’s experience at one of the Federation’s events and it was hard not to get all emotional because we have truly been blessed.
I joined the YAD Board as the Co-Chair for the Club Fed program because I would like to educate the young adults community about the Federation’s work and where all the donations go.
Gelena Grinberg
At this point in my life, I truly learned the meaning of philanthropy and charity work and would like to give back to the community, even though I feel it would never be enough to compensate for the gift of a better life that my family and I were given.
Gelena Grinberg
Co-Chair of Club Fed
Young Adults Division Board
Jane is a single Jewish woman (SJW) in her late 20s who grew up in Los Altos, went away to college and moved back to the area for grad school. When she returned, she began looking for a “Jewish community” and attended a local synagogue. She didn’t find it particularly satisfying and has been looking for an informal minyan of other Jews her age with whom to observe Shabbat and holidays.
We are happy to report that we smashed all previous records for money raised at the Latke Ball. All proceeds will fund the entire year’s worth of programming for the 
It was not a Hanukkah miracle that the Latke Ball came together so well. A large debt of gratitude goes to the stellar host committee, which ran like a well-oiled machine reminiscent of the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV. Everyone used their talents, energy and humor to make planning the event even more rewarding and the final outcome so successful. Tamara Wolfson, Nira Goren, Nicole Miller, Ryan Cohen, Erin Leonard, Aren Sandersen and Raphy Mahpour — you guys rock! I owe an enormous thank you to Andrea Skor, Co-Vice President of Community Building for YAD for all of her tireless efforts. I appreciate her unending enthusiasm and care for every event detail down to which shade of “Jewish blue” the napkins should be. More thanks go out to YAD staff members Stephanie Brown, Dina Jacobson and Abra Annes, who kept everything on track and made the night run as smoothly as possible. Also, thank you to YAD Board President Jordan Sills and to all of the YAD board members and everyone else who volunteered at the event.
