Judith Gold Bloom, a fierce advocate for women’s rights, devoted her life to mentoring and advocating for women in business and politics. She also worked to promote peace among Israelis and Palestinians.
Bloom of San Mateo died on Jan. 8 at the age of 80.
“Judy could walk the fine line of being warm and welcoming while also stating her thoughts and feelings clearly and with confidence,” said Rabbi Lisa Kingston of Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, where Bloom’s memorial service was held on Jan. 12. Kingston considered Bloom her “moral compass” around social justice and Israel, she wrote in an email to J.
“Her respect was earned because of her commitment to Jewish values and study. Her opinion was valued because we knew it was well-formed and thoughtful,” Kingston added.
Born in Chicago on Dec. 14, 1944, Bloom and her family later moved to Sacramento, where she met her future husband, Jordan Bloom, through a Jewish youth group.
After graduating summa cum laude from UC Berkeley, Judy taught French and Spanish to middle-school students. When her three children were young, she began a lifetime of service volunteering at an array of organizations, including ORT America, the League of Women Voters, Shalom Bayit, the San Mateo County Commission on the Status of Women, the Peninsula JCC, Peninsula Temple Beth El and the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Bloom was a mentor to Naomi Tucker, executive director of the Bay Area domestic-violence prevention nonprofit Shalom Bayit, for over two decades.
“She was a fiercely unapologetic advocate for women, the Jewish people, Israel, and bridge-building for peace,” Tucker said in an email. “A true justice warrior, no task was too big or too small for her. She was incredibly hardworking and dedicated, a tireless volunteer and consummate professional, a wise, incredibly skilled and open-hearted leader, a ray of sunshine and joy in many lives.”
In 1983, when then-Assemblywoman Jackie Speier was forming the San Mateo County Advisory Council on Women, she tapped Bloom to help found the group. As chair of the council, Bloom led groundbreaking hearings in which low-income women testified about the feminization of poverty.
She ended up spending a decade on Speier’s staff, serving as her district director. “She was incredibly smart, organized and principled,” said Speier, who remained a close friend after going on to serve in Congress. “She was a feminist before it was common — let alone attractive — and she put 150% into whatever it was she was doing.”
Working with Speier, Bloom became the founding president of the Professional BusinessWomen’s Conference, focused on developing and mentoring women. She went on to serve as executive director for Resourceful Women, director of employer services at Jewish Vocational Service, and director/development officer for the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation’s Endowment Fund.
After she retired in 2010, she packed her life with all of her passions: flowers, cooking, travel, music and dancing. She was a dedicated Torah student and got involved with the New Israel Fund and J Street, traveling to Israel and visiting the West Bank to seek ways to promote a two-state solution. Even in the final months of her life, she was teaching young children to swim and tutoring children in English and Spanish.
“She would do more in a day than most people would in a month,” said her daughter, Nicole Bloom. “And she did it all with values of wanting to contribute and make the world a better place.”
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by sons Michael and Jon; daughters-in-law Diane, Sue and Jill; grandchildren Miriam, Elena, Evan, Marlee and Anya; and brother Norm.