It was a time of war, it was a time of chickens.
The year 5774 brought considerable changes to the Bay Area Jewish community, with many longtime leaders stepping down and Israel in the Gardens — the community’s most highly visible single-day event — put on hiatus for a year.
The most important event of the year was the summer war between Israel and Hamas, which brought a cascade of anti-Israel protests to the Bay Area.
However, it also sparked the largest pro-Israel march and rally in San Francisco history, a solidarity gathering on Aug. 3 called “The Bay Stands with Israel” that drew an estimated 3,000 people to Civic Center Plaza. After the spirited rally, many of them marched down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza.
In addition, more than 800 people packed Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco for an emergency solidarity gathering on July 20.
The Jewish year began last fall with nervous times for Camp Tawonga, as the devastating Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park threatened the popular Jewish summer camp. While Tawonga avoided significant damage, the fire devastated thousands of surrounding acres.
Shortly after the High Holy Days in 2013, U.C. Berkeley’s Jewish Student Union rejected a membership application from J Street U, the college arm of J Street. Members of the JSU (an umbrella organization of a dozen Jewish groups on campus) were unhappy that J Street U had supported Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers who chronicle what they say are abuses they witnessed during their military service.
The year 5774 saw a dramatic changing of the guard within local Jewish community leadership.
In March, Jennifer Gorovitz stepped down as the CEO of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, and Tad Taube announced he would be giving up his board presidency of the Koret Foundation; in May, Ed Cushman retired as executive director of Hebrew Free Loan; and in June, Alla Efimova stepped down as director of the Magnes Collect-ion of Jewish Art and Life.
Two JCC executive directors also moved on: Barry Finestone left the JCC of San Francisco to become the executive director of the Bay Area–based Lisa and John Pritzker Family Fund, and Sally Kauffman Flinchbaugh left the JCC of the East Bay to become the COO at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto.
Several high-profile rabbis departed Bay Area congregations this year. The list included Judah Dardik of Beth Jacob in Oakland, Jonathan Jaffe of Emanu-El in San Francisco, Daniel Pressman of Beth David in Saratoga, Raphael Asher of B’nai Tikvah in Walnut Creek and Micah Hyman of Beth Sholom in San Francisco.
Last fall, San Francisco lost a 26-year-old Jewish eatery, Moshe’s Pippic in Hayes Valley, and just this month, a 3-year-old Jewish restaurant on wheels, the Old World Food Truck, called it quits. But in their stead, another new Jewish deli has arisen in San Francisco: the Rye Project, which launched in June.
The community said goodbye to several notable leaders who died during the year. They included JIMENA co-founder Joseph Wahad (December), American Jewish Committee regional director Ernie Weiner (January); David’s Deli founder David Apfelbaum (May) and Rabbi Michael Barenbaum (May), rabbi emeritus at Congregation Rodef Shalom in San Rafael.
Meanwhile Jewish life continued apace in the Bay Area.
Starting in January, a number of Jewish organizations in the region celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the 1964 Broadway debut of “Fiddler on the Roof” with panel discussions, screenings of the 1971 movie, concerts and sing-alongs.
In February, Brandeis Hillel Jewish Day School announced that its San Francisco and Marin campuses would split in 2015, becoming separate academic institutions.
On March 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swung through the Bay Area, stopping in Silicon Valley to meet with Gov. Jerry Brown. The two signed a historic agreement intended to boost cooperation between Israel and California on high-tech, green-tech and biotech projects.
And then there were chickens.
In April, Berkeley’s Urban Adamah, a nonprofit that blends Jewish spirituality with urban farming and education, announced a public workshop on shechita, or kosher ritual slaughter. Fifteen hens, raised from chicks and no longer laying eggs, were to be killed as part of an educational event demonstrating the lifecycle of a farm and kosher practice.
However, an outcry from animal rights activists both locally and nationally ensued. Finding himself in the middle of an unexpected controversy, Urban Adamah founder Adam Berman canceled the workshop, and for several weeks, the standoff wore on. Ultimately, Berman chose to proceed with a non-public kosher slaughter; the meat was used in chicken soup and served at Urban Adamah’s weekly free farm stand.
In May, the Jewish Federation of the East Bay moved from Oakland, where its home had been for 25 years, into new digs in the heart of downtown Berkeley, on the second floor of the Magnes.
In June, J Street hosted its first West Coast national summit in San Francisco. That same month, the student senate at U.C. Santa Cruz addressed a resolution urging the university to divest from several companies that do business with Israel. At first, the resolution passed, but only because the senate disregarded voting rules by hurriedly re-voting on the bill after it had initially failed. However, the senate president voided the vote a few weeks later.
A month earlier, the student senate at U.C. Davis rejected a similar divestment resolution, leaving U.C. Berkeley as the only Bay Area university whose student representatives have put a boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution on the books.
In July, the Jewish world was turned upside down when three Jewish teen boys were kidnapped and then found murdered in the West Bank. That horrific incident precipitated what became a bloody 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.
J. covered the story here and abroad. Many Bay Area Jews were in Israel as the rockets fell, and told their stories of fear and Israeli solidarity. Another J. story focused on nervous but proud Bay Area parents whose children were serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
As 5774 wound down, the Bay Area got a reminder of the awesome power of nature when a 6.0 earthquake struck Napa on Aug. 24. The quake caused chaos at Chabad of Napa Valley, but, fortunately, damage to Jewish institutions in the area was minimal.
Then, in a hopeful moment earlier this month, hundreds of Jews from across the region celebrated the renovation and reopening of the Berkeley mikvah.
What awaits the Bay Area Jewish community in 5775? Read this newspaper every week to find out.