If you’re looking for a rabbi to perform an interfaith wedding, a pre-school for your toddlers or a congregation that welcomes the participation of a non-Jewish spouse, Gail Green hopes you’ll contact Jewish Community Information & Referral (JCI&R). “We want people to know that we connect the dots,” says Green, director of JCI&R, the definitive resource for information about Jewish life in the Bay Area.

Green and her colleague Judy Musante and a cadre of experienced volunteers staff the phones in a small office in the Jewish Community Federation’s building in San Francisco. From Monday through Friday (except on Jewish holidays), they provide referrals via telephone and email to all things Jewish in communities throughout the Bay Area... [Continued]

The Flavors of Judaism
By Suzan Berns

In the U.S., when people talk about Judaism, they’re usually referring to the three major streams – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. In larger communities, such as our Bay Area there are two others to add to the mix – Reconstructionist, and the newest kid on the block, Renewal Judaism. How did they come about – and what is the difference?

In the beginning, according to Rabbi Michael Barenbaum, rabbi emeritus at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael, Jews were of one kind. That’s not to say they all believed the same, for as Barenbaum mused, if there’s one Jew, there are two opinions. But their practice was virtually the same: it was based on “oral tradition” – a system of taking the laws written in the Torah and providing specific instructions on how to carry them out. This worked because Jews were relegated to their own communities, apart from the rest of society. It wasn’t until the 18th century and the Enlightenment, when Jews began to leave their shtetels and live in a limited way amongst the rest of society, that they began to rewrite the laws... [Continued]

If this is August (or late July), then the High Holy Days are near! Every year I get calls and emails asking about where to go for the High Holy Days. Pretty soon you too will be thinking about this. What if you’re not affiliated, in an interfaith relationship and thinking of attending services – what should you consider? [Continued]		Two recent initiatives of Jewish Community Information and Referral are providing families with new babies with a plethora of resources for raising Jewish children. Chai Baby (Chai means life in Hebrew) is directed to families of newborns and according to Gail Green, JCI&R director, provides a veritable toolbox of Jewish resources... [Continued]
“There are many Jewish paths, and they’re all very rich,” says Rabbi Noa Kushner, who directs Congregation Rodef Sholom’s Open Tent, a program that reaches out to interfaith families at the San Rafael synagogue... [Continued]		The Mother’s Circle, a new program specifically for non-Jewish mothers in an interfaith family who wish to raise their children as Jews, is taking place in the Peninsula. It is based on a unique concept: Being inclusive sometimes means providing separate safe spaces for people – in other words, being exclusive... [Continued]

Visit www.PlanitJewish.com for a compendium of Bay Area Jewish events

•  Building Jewish Bridges • Jewish Information & Referral •  Interfaith Connection • Lerhrhaus Judaica •  InterfaithFamily.com • Project Welcome •  j. The Jewish News Weekly • Resource: A Guide to Jewish Life in the Bay Area •  JGate