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Sometimes it takes more than a village. In fact, it takes an organized community to provide critical social services to those in need, to educate our children well and to organize top-quality cultural events that entice not only Jews but the entire Bay Area.

We are that community, and on Sunday somebody may be calling on you for your support. Be there. Your help is vital.

The theme of the annual Super Sunday phonathon, which takes place this weekend, is "Building Community." The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation is rallying 1,000 volunteers in San Francisco and Palo Alto to call upon 10,000 households in four counties, seeking help in building that community. We are asking you to give what you can.

While Jews may be small in numbers, the Jewish community is bigger than a village — or even a city — and we reach out worldwide to provide help. We provide aid to the elderly and infirm, to emigres and to families in need, here and abroad, through myriad institutions that receive JCF funding.

Because we're part of a wider community, we sponsor efforts to further ties between Bay Area Jews and the Jewish state. And we work with volunteers and institutions in Israel seeking to support peace efforts, to further pluralism and to promote ties between Jews and Arabs. With Israel under siege, your help is needed to support the many humanitarian efforts that have become jeopardized.

But our community is not just about global concerns. In fact, two-thirds of the money raised on Super Sunday remains in the Bay Area. It provides resources and educational services for our religious schools and helps support larger efforts that enable the unaffiliated to learn about our rich heritage.

It also funds informative programs about Israel as well as year-round cultural events, festivals and lectures.

Building a community — particularly one as extensive as ours — takes work. It also takes money. We ask that you open your heart.