A memorial service for Lesli Sachs-Williams, founder and former president of the Coastside Jewish Community, has been scheduled for June 23. Sachs-Williams died unexpectedly May 14 while on a trip to Costa Rica. She was 69.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Sachs-Williams launched the Coastside Jewish Community in 1994 after moving from Berkeley to El Granada on the San Mateo County coast. She organized the community in many ways, but is remembered by fellow community members for reaching out and “stalking” Jews, whether she saw them buying matzah in the supermarket or walking on a nature path.
After a few years of grassroots organizing and gatherings, Sachs-Williams helped CJC become an official but unaffiliated congregation, with services and ritual events held at local churches. In 1995, a b’nai mitzvah class was started; in 1998, a student rabbi was hired and High Holy Day services were held for the first time.
Upon her death, the CJC board voted to establish the Lesli Sachs-Williams Clergy Fund in her honor.
The shloshim memorial service is slated to run from 2 to 4 p.m. June 23 and will be held at Holy Family Episcopal Church, one of the first churches to open its doors to CJC services in the 1990s. It will be led by the community’s two spiritual leaders, maggid Jhos Singer and liturgist Julie Batz. The church’s address is 1590 S. Cabrillo Highway (Highway 1), Half Moon Bay. For information, visit www.CoastsideJewishCommunity.org or call (650) 479-5252.