After San Francisco Jewish Week’s inaugural run last year, the jam-packed program celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month will return May 9 to 16.
The lineup features new events such as a “roaming feast” of the city’s Jewish food scene, a “Robot Shabbat” and a Jewish Heritage Night at the Golden State Valkyries game against the Chicago Sky. Returning events include a Jewish comedy showcase, a communal schvitz at the Archimedes Banya bathhouse and a trash cleanup at Ocean Beach.
The week is put together by Value Culture, a San Francisco event-focused nonprofit. Its CEO, Adam Swig, looks back at the city’s first Jewish Week last year with pride. But this year he hopes to raise the bar.
“There’s something for everybody, Jewish and non-Jewish, to engage with, come together and celebrate the beauty of our culture,” he said.
The week will kick off May 9 at the JCCSF with “A Taste of Jewish SF.” The event will feature food prepared by chefs from Jewish-owned restaurants such as Wise Sons, Super Mensch, Loquat and Hummus Bodega.
Some restaurants will also offer specials during the week, including a new weekend brunch menu at Super Mensch and a discount on any meal at Fiorella.
Value Culture will once again collaborate with the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center. Herb Barasch, a member of the Holocaust Center’s Speakers Bureau, will be honored on May 10 at the San Francisco Giants game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Separately, the May 13 Valkyries game will recognize Holocaust survivor Susanne (Sanne) DeWitt of Berkeley, who is a speaker, author and activist. DeWitt has been invited to strike a gong to mark the start of the home game at Chase Center.
Standing at 4-feet-10, DeWitt said she wouldn’t call herself a basketball enthusiast but is honored to be chosen nonetheless. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, DeWitt has regularly appeared at Berkeley City Council meetings, where she faced taunting from anti-Israel protesters she described as “hostile.” She said she looks forward to taking part in a joyous public event.
“To be in a crowd where the energy is positive, it’s really a pleasure,” DeWitt told J.
That game will offer more than the gong. Israeli folk dance school Rikud by the Bay will perform pregame on the court, and special team merch will be sold.
For the occasion, Nell Mahgel-Friedman, co-owner of Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley, designed a custom cap with “Valkyries” embroidered in Hebrew letters. The cap is currently available on Afikomen’s website or in the store.
She and her family are avid WNBA fans and season ticket holders for Valkyries games. With Swig’s help, she was able to launch the first Jewish Heritage Night with the Valkyries last August, a few months into the inaugural season of the newest WNBA team in nearly two decades.
“The energy at the games is just so fun, really positive,” she told J. “Everybody is there to just support the Valkyries, support women’s sports, to support athletes in the Bay Area.”
Rikud by the Bay will lead a standalone, all-levels dance class at the JCCSF on May 14. The JCC will also be a venue for other events that week, including a meditative sound bath and a lecture on the history of Black Jewish identity in the South before the Civil War, both on May 12.
Swig hopes San Francisco Jewish Week can raise more awareness of Jewish American Heritage Month.
“We want everyone in the whole state to be celebrating Jewish Heritage Month, just like we celebrate Black History Month and Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month,” Swig said.
He sees San Francisco Jewish Week as an opportunity to reach Jews from all generations, with a particular focus on young Jewish adults. Two events organized by S.F.-based Malka Productions for the week will concentrate on that demographic.
On May 10, four Jewish social-media influencers and frequent political debaters will join a panel discussion about their most effective tactics and their efforts to counter antisemitism online while advocating for Israel and the Jewish people. The panel will feature conservative political commentator Debra Lea, pro-Israel online streamer Talia Yoseph, Harvard alum and PragerU commentator Shabbos Kestenbaum and Syrian American Jewish attorney and activist Abraham Hamra.
Malka Productions and Value Culture will close out San Francisco Jewish Week with a formal “Blue and White Ball” for 21- to 45-year-olds on May 16.
The full schedule of San Francisco Jewish Week can be found at @sfjewishweek on Instagram and at valueculture.org/sfjewishweek.