By Heidi Gantwerk in San Diego
My first year in San Diego, I walked into Rosh Hashanah services – at the Del Mar Racetrack, of all places – and felt totally alone. The tunes and prayers were familiar, but the faces were not. So much has changed since then. A dear colleague invited me to meet his rabbi. The cantor offered a musical home for my family. And we said yes to it all.
Tomorrow night, I will walk into my synagogue and see my entire family participating in the service. I will see dear friends and colleagues. I will feel totally at home in a place where my voice matters.
Every year at Rosh Hashanah, we reflect on the year that has passed and look toward the year to come. This year, I cannot help but think about the fact that Federation is entering its 90th year. Everywhere around us, we can see the care and commitment of the generations who came before us and the rich Jewish life they helped to build.
A milestone like this naturally makes me look forward. What will we build from here? What legacy will we leave? How can we add more sweetness and joy to this coming year and the years that follow?
For me, the answer starts with Jewish belonging, Jewish joy and Jewish engagement.
The last three years have required an intense focus on Jewish security and confronting antisemitism. That work remains essential, and we will continue it until the world no longer asks it of us. I hope that day comes soon. Until then, we will keep empowering our community to protect itself and stand up with pride.
That essential work, however, is not the end goal. It is the necessary foundation. This year, and I hope for the next 90, we want to work toward a San Diego where every Jewish person, and everyone connected to our community, can find a place where they feel seen, valued and heard, and where they can come together with others around a shared purpose.
Some of us are fortunate to already have that. We have a true Jewish home, a community that cares about us, where people would notice if we didn’t show up. Some are perfectly happy with their level of Jewish engagement, whatever that level may be.
But many others, young and not-so-young, native San Diegans and newcomers alike, are still searching for their Jewish home, for deep connections, and for the feeling that they are an important part of something bigger than themselves.
We all have a role to play in creating that. It means going beyond welcome, beyond connection, beyond participation and making sure our programs, social halls, classrooms, living rooms and dinner tables are places where people truly feel they belong.
At Federation, we are diving deep into Jewish belonging. We are engaging large institutions and small grassroots creators and educators across a range of Jewish practices and backgrounds to learn what makes people feel at home in Jewish life here, and what makes them feel like a guest. We will share what we learn, and we will act on it.
But Federation cannot create belonging on its own. It happens at the front door of a synagogue, in a Shabbat dinner invitation someone almost didn’t extend, or in a text checking in because you noticed someone hasn’t been around. That work belongs to all of us.
This year, I want to ask something of you. Sometime during these High Holy Days, do one small thing to help someone else feel they belong. Call the person you haven’t seen lately. Set one more place at your table. Notice the person sitting alone and invite them to sit with you. Introduce yourself to a face you don’t recognize. None of it takes much. All of it is how belonging actually gets built.
Ninety years ago, the people who started this Federation could not have envisioned the world we live in today. They built anyway, for us. Now it is our turn to build for people we will never meet, who I hope will one day look back at 2026 the way we look back at our founders.
There is something fitting about beginning that work this week. Almost every prayer we say during these days is communal. We ask to be inscribed for a good year together, as a community, standing side by side even when we may have walked in alone.
So, this is my wish for the year ahead: may you feel seen, valued and heard; may you find shared purpose; and may you help someone else feel the same. And may this be a year of peace, health and joy for our community, for Israel and for the Jewish people.
Shanah Tovah u’Metuka.
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Heidi Gantwerk is president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego.