It isn’t news to Shelly Hebert that the multitude of Jewish institutions sprouting up in the South Peninsula aren’t being built solely to keep construction workers busy.
But after reading the 2004 Jewish community study she feels almost vindicated.
“At last, our community is able to quantify what people have experienced and seen but not been able to document,” said the executive director of Palo Alto’s Campus for Jewish Life, the huge, former Sun Microsystems campus that will house a number of Jewish institutions, including the Palo Alto JCC.
Hebert is still sporting a giddy, post-espresso-like buzz days after first reading the study. “So I carry around this document with me everywhere I go.”
Demographer Bruce Phillips’ survey revealed that the South Peninsula now has more Jews than San Francisco. But this isn’t just about the numbers. The South Peninsula has the Bay Area’s lowest intermarriage rate (39 percent) and highest rate of synagogue affiliation (36 percent). The region is home to 19,000 Jewish children.
Any way you look at it, the favorite adjective of South Peninsula Jewish community leaders — “vibrant” — seems to be apropos.
Yet the most salient statistic is still the South Bay’s mushrooming Jewish population. The estimated total of 72,520 represents 32 percent of the West Bay’s Jews, and is a 248 percent leap from the last survey in 1986.
And, counter-intuitively, this massive growth doesn’t come at San Francisco’s expense. The city’s Jewish population of 65,843 represents a 36 percent jump in the past 18 years — but, as Phillips points out, San Francisco is simply too developed and costly to grow much.
Imagine, if you will, a car traveling 60 mph on the highway. To a car flying by at 90 mph, the slower vehicle appears as if it’s standing still.
The South Peninsula is the fast car.
Hebert points to the ascent of Silicon Valley, Stanford University and a quality public school system as reasons drawing Jews to the area. Add to that the self-perpetuating cycle of additional Jews heading to the South Bay because of the area’s multitude of Jews and communal organizations and you’ve got the makings of a growing population.
In addition to serving many Jews, Hebert wants to reach out to subgroups of the Jewish population. Take Israelis, for example: The survey revealed that 13 percent of the South Peninsula’s Jewish households identify as Israeli, compared to 4 percent in the West Bay overall.
“If you go for a hike by the big satellite dish in the foothills behind Stanford, it’s very likely at some point you’re going to pass someone on the trail speaking Hebrew. If you go to the grocery store, a coffee shop or onto the Stanford campus, you can’t go anywhere in Palo Alto without hearing Hebrew,” she said.
With the Campus for Jewish Life, Hebert hopes to create a central address for all of the South Peninsula’s Jews — Israeli, Russian and otherwise.
Building the campus “is very much in keeping with the spirit of Silicon Valley. This is a place where people get involved in startups and take risks,” she said.
“This is a community that knows how to make things happen.”
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