When the Oakland-Piedmont Jewish Community Center shut its Sheffield Avenue doors after 40 years in business, it looked like the end of an era. Two years later, it looks like a new era is beginning.
Last weekend, 412 Monte Vista officially became a Jewish address in Oakland.
Housing a reincarnation of the JCC called Jewish Community Services of Oakland and Piedmont, the structure is a 5,000 square-foot mansion built in 1909 and now leased from the Plymouth United Church of Christ. Agency leaders emphasize that this is not a JCC — there is no pool, basketball court or nursery school as the agency once offered — but they hope it will feel like home to East Bay Jews.
The housewarming celebration on Saturday night, Nov. 9 marked a new phase for Haggai Wolff, the JCS executive director, who has spent the past two years working out of various rented spaces and even from his home.
“This feels very much like we are moving toward stability,” says Wolff. “Aside from dealing with the physical issues of moving around, we had to deal with a lot of emotional baggage from a 40-year institution closing down. That has been just as challenging.”
A staff of 10 part- and full-time employees is working to rebuild the institution, offering programs for students and seniors and hosting community events. Already, groups such as Hadassah and the Aquarian Minyan are using office and meeting space in the new location.
In the wake of the OPJCC’s abrupt shutdown with a debt of $435,000, JCS advisory council chair Ilene Levinson says the new agency is working hard to operate within its means.
“We had to start with absolutely core services. We’re operating in the black because we’re being very conscious of what can be supported financially.” Still, she says she wants East Bay residents to know “we’re here, we’re alive, we’re happening. Emotionally, we’re continuing the tradition of the JCC.”
The library is one way the new location is bringing along the spirit of its former existence. It will be dedicated to Patricia Landman, former OPJCC director who died of cancer in 1991 at the age of 41.