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July 2007
Regional News
Peninsula Coastside Jewish Community: A Jewish Oasis by the Sea in Half Moon Bay When Lesli Sachs moved from Berkeley to El Granada in 1993, she was startled to find there was no visible Jewish community in the area. Without hesitation, Sachs mobilized for a community-wide Hanukah party. To her surprise, more than 60 people attended, and this event marked the beginning of what became the Coastside Jewish Community. Thirteen years later, CJC is an eclectic, inclusive and innovative community, spanning many generations from Pacifica to Pescadero and beyond. Members who gather for Shabbat services twice a month, boast of a thriving religious school and a monthly Ruach Havurah. CJC is a truly warm, haimishe, and diverse congregation, known for its hospitality and its musically gifted spiritual leaders, maggid Jhos Singer and shaliach tzibur (service leader) Julie Batz. Coastside Jewish Community’s mission statement says explicitly that the congregation strives “to be inclusive, welcoming, and to embrace the diversity of people from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds.” The congregation includes many LGBT couples and families, multicultural families and nearly half the congregation is interfaith families. Many were raised in secular Jewish families, while others are from interfaith families and even observant Jewish backgrounds. The Coastside is not served by Peninsula-based and other Bay area Jewish institutions, so CJC attracts many people who geographically have few other Jewish options. However, there are a number of congregants who live in Oakland, Palo Alto, Lafayette and other locations who schlep to Half Moon Bay regularly because they have found a community with diversity and inclusiveness that are hard to find elsewhere. Services are held in space rented from several Coastside progressive Episcopal churches -- one in Half Moon Bay for Shabbat services, and the other in Pacifica for the High Holy Days. For many people, CJC’s High Holy Day services are the pinnacle of spiritual delight, with creative, heartfelt liturgy, leadership, and extraordinary musicians. It is an amazing visual spectacle to see a gathering of Jews dressed in white on the beach in Pacifica for Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. One member in particular even dons a wet suit every year and blows his shofar from the middle of the waves at Linda Mar Beach. For more information, contact Coastside Jewish Community at 650.306.0328, or visit the website at www.coastsidejewishcommunity.org.
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