It was a complicated, difficult year for many Bay Area Jews. Documenting much of it was Aaron Levy-Wolins, this publication’s first staff photojournalist. We kept Aaron busy running here and there, crossing bridges and attending events to capture images for J. stories showing campus protests, battles over cease-fire resolutions, shock at the election results, strife in schools, expressions of grief, love of music and more. Here is Bay Area Jewish life in 2024, as seen through some of Aaron’s best photos. — David A.M. Wilensky
Supervisors Dean Preston and Hilary Ronen thanked supporters after a Gaza cease-fire resolution passed the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in an 8-3 vote on Jan. 9. Some Jewish groups called on Mayor London Breed to veto the resolution. She declined, saying that she wanted the city to move past the anger and division that had repeatedly dominated board meetings since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Sirgout Aga Badana, owner and chef of Desta Ethiopian Cafe in Oakland, prepares a platter of food shortly after the restaurant became kosher certified in January. As a vegan eatery, it was easy enough for Rabbi Gershon Albert of Congregation Beth Jacob in Oakland and Rabbi Yonatan Cohen of Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley to declare it kosher, making it one of vanishingly few kosher joints in the East Bay.
Rebecca Feigelson, seen at her Oakland home with her children Jacob and Leia, moved her son out of Oakland’s school district and into Piedmont’s after anti-Zionist statements made by the Oakland Educators Association teachers union. J. broke the news in January that dozens of Jewish families were taking their kids out of Oakland schools, and we followed similar stories at school districts around the region all year.
Rabbi Moshe Langer (left) gives an unhoused woman a bag while Joe Gordon (center right) talks to an unhoused man after giving him a T-shirt on Feb. 11, Super Bowl Sunday. Chabad of SF’s annual “Super Soul Party” is a chance for those in need to kick back, enjoy the game and receive essential supplies and services.
Matisyahu, whose vibe has changed in the years since his musical career began as a Hasidic reggae star, sings at the UC Theatre Taube Family Music Hall in Berkeley on Feb. 22. The concert came just a week after shows in New Mexico and Arizona were canceled by concert venues under pressure from anti-Israel activists.
A girl looks on during the March 3 rally that followed the Jewish Unity March. Her “Zioness” sign refers to the Zionist women’s activist group of the same name. The San Francisco march, sponsored by JCRC Bay Area, the Federation and many other groups, was a response to the Oct. 7 attack and rising antisemitism.
Pro-Palestinian protests that partially blocked UC Berkeley’s Sather Gate, one of the main entrances to the campus, were a repeated point of contention during the 2023-2024 academic year. In this photo, Jewish students and their supporters march to Sather Gate in what they termed the “Liberate the Gate” protest on March 11.
More than 1,000 people participated in a March 23 march that began at the First Congregational Church of Oakland and called for an “enduring and sustained” cease-fire in Gaza. It was part of a global “pilgrimage” organized by faith communities in more than 170 cities worldwide.
Dorothea Dorenz (center) argues with pro-Palestinian demonstrators who surround supporters of Israel during a Berkeley City Council meeting on March 26. This was one of many local governmental meetings we covered this year, as politicians and activists sought to pass resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and measures divesting from companies that do business in Israel. Some were successful, others not so much. (Staff writer Maya Mirsky is still maintaining and updating our interactive map of local cease-fire measures.)
The pro-Palestinian tent encampment at San Francisco State University had grown to over 100 tents by the time this photo was taken on May 6. Similar protest encampments proliferated on college campuses across America this year, including at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, S.F. State and other Northern California universities.
Though pro-Palestinian protests and encampments dominated the national news, there were also pro-Israel rallies in response. On May 12 at Stanford, students and local community members marched across campus to show their solidarity with Israel and with Jewish students who felt the campus culture had turned on them.
Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco had a chance to welcome organists from around the world on June 30 for the opening event of the American Guild of Organists convention. The synagogue had just completed the first phase of a major renovation of its historical 3,500-pipe organ.
Amit Elor (right), 20, spars with wrestling partner Marilyn Garcia, 26, on July 3 at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill. Elor, who grew up in Walnut Creek as the child of Israeli immigrants, continued her five-year winning streak by earning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics this summer. Elor became the youngest-ever wrestler — female or male — on a U.S. team to win Olympic gold.
The stone-carved 10 Commandments above the entrance to the sanctuary at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El viewed through a crane on Aug. 20. The synagogue’s domed edifice is undergoing a massive renovation and seismic retrofit — set to conclude in time for the building’s centennial in 2025.
Frayda Gonshor Cohen (right) tearfully hugs Elana Naftalin-Kelman during a memorial service for Hersh Goldberg-Polin at Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley on Sept. 1. Goldberg-Polin, who was born in Berkeley and grew up in Israel, was among the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. He was killed in captivity in Gaza on Aug. 31, prompting memorial services around the Bay Area, including at Beth Israel, the synagogue his family attended before moving to Israel.
This composite photo of Ari Kligman shows the Sacramento State Hornets star player winding up for a pitch at John Smith Field in Sacramento on Sept. 16. Ari and his older brother Elie, who also plays for Sac State, are Orthodox Jews and do not play or practice on Shabbat. They told J. the team has gone out of its way to accommodate their religious needs.
A man wipes his eyes during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel. It was one of several memorial events held across the region.
Andy Kim (left) of New York City and Adin Rimland of Berlin share beers atop their unconventional sukkah on Oct. 15 at Urban Adamah in Berkeley. They were there as part of a sukkah-building competition that brought together diverse teams, including both Jews and non-Jews, to reimagine what the ritual structures can look like.
State Sen. Scott Wiener (left) looks on at a Nov. 5 election night watch party at Manny’s Cafe in San Francisco as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump climbs higher in the electoral vote count. Wiener’s apparent nervous mood matches that of many Bay Area Jews, most of whom are Democrats, as Trump prepares to return to the White House in 2025.
Drummer Mohini Vora (left) and oud player Sirvan Manhoobi practice a multilingual musical rendition of Hannah Szenes’ poem “Eli Eli” in Oakland on Nov. 7. They were rehearsing for Singing Together, a benefit concert for Israeli and Palestinian organizations that help with food needs and women and children affected by the war, held at Mission Dolores in San Francisco on Nov. 24.
A lone visitor walks through the lobby of the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Dec. 15 — the last day the museum was open to the public for at least the next year. The closure and accompanying layoffs are intended to stabilize the San Francisco museum’s ailing finances.