By Jeff Schindler in San Diego
Ninety years ago, a San Diego judge named Jacob Weinberger gathered a scattered, divided Jewish community and asked them to do something radical: to become responsible for one another.
Everything that grew from that gathering – our day schools and synagogues, our ties to Israel and to Jews around the world, the safety net that catches our community’s most vulnerable – has been built the same way ever since: by people choosing, year after year, to invest in a community much larger than themselves. This year, Jewish Federation of San Diego marks its 90th anniversary, and I am honored to open this milestone year with you.
We arrive in a position of strength, and that strength has a source. It comes from the generosity of so many in this community who take the responsibility of tzedakah seriously, year after year, in good times and hard ones. Thanks to supporters like you, Federation begins its 90th year ready for whatever comes next.
This anniversary is not just a look back. It is a new starting line.
In the year ahead, we will renew our commitment to the four pillars that carry our mission: caring for Jews in need, building a vibrant Jewish future, connecting with Israel and global Jewry, and creating a resilient and secure Jewish community.
That fourth commitment is the newest. For most of our 90 years, this community’s work was to care, to build, and to connect. We made security its own pillar because the recent disturbing rise in antisemitism has demanded a permanent answer. San Diego’s Jewish institutions now spend a growing share of their annual budgets on protection, and Federation’s job is to help carry that weight so it never falls on one congregation or one family alone.
As the son of Holocaust survivors, I know in my bones what it means to be responsible for one another. And so I will tell you where I stand: we will NOT be deterred. Not from gathering. Not from worshiping together during these High Holidays. Not from proudly sending our children to Jewish day schools and Jewish camps. Every dollar this community gives is an act of refusal – a refusal to let antisemitism decide how we gather, where we pray, or whether our children grow up proudly Jewish. A community strong enough to celebrate together is also strong enough to protect one another.
During this special 90th anniversary campaign, you will hear more from us as each chapter of this year unfolds: the stories of what this community has built together, the people carrying that work forward, and the moments when we gather to shape the next 90 years. I hope you will be part of all of it.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for special content celebrating 90 years of Jewish San Diego, and watch for more in the coming weeks on what your continued generosity built this past year.
This year of looking back is also a year of doing. As we reflect on all that so many have done to build and strengthen our community, we look ahead to the moments this year when each of us will be asked to do our part. When that call comes, I invite you to answer it – together with Federation.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish you and your family a sweet, healthy, and peaceful new year.
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Jeff Schindler is the board chair of the Jewish Federation of San Diego