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"If rich people can live in Presidio housing, why can't poor people?" read the banners at a rally last Sunday that drew nearly 500 protesters, many of them prominent Jews.

The rally was organized by Religious Witness to the Homeless, a San Francisco-based ecumenical ministry.

Police eventually arrested 43 demonstrators including Rabbi Alan Lew of San Francisco's Congregation Beth Sholom, after several hundred occupied an abandoned officer's residence to demand that 466 vacant units be made housing for the homeless.

Among some 75 Bay Area Jews who participated in the rally were Rabbis Lew, Pam Baugh of Or Shalom Jewish Community of S.F., and Zari Weiss of Berkeley's Kehilla Community Congregation.

"I've never seen a better Jewish turnout," said protester Steve Leeds. "Jews have traditionally struggled for social justice, and we're here in that tradition."

"Tikkun olam [repairing the world] is alive and well," said Eloise Magenheim, another participant.

"This was the first time I put on a tallit not to pray but to let others see that I'm a Jew," Baugh said. "I said a special prayer asking for God's help for causes central to Jewish life."

In this fifth major rally to save the Wherry Housing Complex, protesters assembled at the Presidio Visitors Center to hear spiritual leaders and advocates for the homeless before beginning an eight-block walk through the Presidio to Unit 548 of Officers' Housing.

While plans to rent out some officers' quarters at $1,500 to $2,000 a month have gone unchallenged, the National Park Service has insisted on demolishing or removing the more modest Wherry units. The Presidio Trust, which will take over administration of the Presidio from the NPS, has refused to commit itself to preserving the housing.

Meanwhile, S.F. Mayor Willie Brown and the Board of Supervisors have pledged their support for using the Presidio units to house the homeless.

At least two members of the newly appointed Presidio Trust — Don Fisher and Toby Rosenblatt — are Jewish, along with Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Protesters hoped that Jewish leaders will recognize caring for the homeless as a Jewish responsibility.

"This is a life-and-death issue," Lew said. "People are dying on the streets. That takes precedence over other concerns."

Added Weiss: "A lot of people want to keep these issues at arm's distance and not recognize that every person who is homeless is a part of our community, of my community, as well."

Meanwhile, Baugh urged officials to start a dialogue with the Jewish community.

"I have a good deal of empathy for the people making these decisions," she said. "I don't feel that they're opposed to the poor."

Noting the heavy Jewish presence at Sunday's rally, Evan Mendelson of the Jewish Fund for Justice said, "We easily have a minyan."

Rally organizers predicted that support for saving the Wherry housing would grow in the Jewish community as more people made the connection between Jewish ethics and concern for the homeless.

"We've got to turn up the heat," Lew said. "Our only recourse is the pressure of public expression, and we need people. All the values that we're demonstrating for are Jewish values."