Jewish Federation

Last updated on February 7, 2008

The mission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara (JFGSB) is to create and advance a cohesive Santa Barbara Jewish community by promoting identification and connectedness to the Jewish community, generating mutual respect amongst Jews of different practices, promoting cooperative relationships among the Jewish organizations and promoting positive relationships between the Jewish community and the community at large. The SBJF strives, in all of its endeavors, to preserve and foster Judaism and hold fast to its values, particularly tzedaka (charity and justice) kol Y'israel areyvim zeh lazeh (all Israel must care for one another) and tikkun olam (healing the world).

The JFGSB raises and distributes funds to support the needs of the local and international Jewish community and is devoted to fulfilling multitude of local needs while providing rescue and relief for Jews in Israel and around the world.

Description:
The Departments of JFGSB
Each of our departments at the Jewish Federation offers services, events, activities, or classes. These Departments include: Adult Education, which provides high quality educational and cultural programming, from distinguished speakers to discussion groups and lectures on American and Middle East politics, to film classes; Art at the JCC, Providing high-caliber exhibits for the community, featuring gallery talks and panels with artists, curators and collectors; Center for Successful Aging, is a community-based non-sectarian program that delivers peer support to individuals and groups; Jewish Community Relations Council builds bridges to the larger community, speaks out against anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, educates about and advocates for Israel; Portraits of Survival, a permanent exhibit uses contemporary photographs and archival materials to relate the unique experiences of community members who are Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi Germany; Young Adult Division encourages and educates the next generation in the responsibility of philanthropy as taught by the Jewish concept of tzedakah (justice) and tikkun olam (healing the world); Youth Programs
focuses on the needs of our youth at all stages, within the context of intergenerational and community programming; and Women's Division affirms Jewish identity, inspires by example and provides an opportunity to make a difference.

History:
When the Jews were exiled from the Land of Israel, nearly two thousand years ago, they dispersed across many countries, fragmenting into small groups among widely divergent cultures and empires. Under Christian and Islamic rule, in the German ghetto or in the Polish shtetl; however, the Jews remained internationally united. The glue was an allegiance to a code of laws and rituals set forth in the Torah and Talmud.

But Judaism is more than a religion; it is a way of life experienced through the kehillah, the community. Forced to endure harsh conditions, without anyone to rely on for assistance but themselves, Jews developed a communal infrastructure that was uniquely Jewish. With an obligation in Jewish law to help the less fortunate, everyone in the community made regular contributions to the collection box, the kuppah. This fundraising system neither shamed nor glorified: both recipient and giver remained anonymous.

Contact person: Harriet Marx, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (805) 957-9230

Address:

524 Chapala St
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(See a map)

Web Site: http://jewishsantabarbara.org

Directions:

Take the Garden St exit from 101. Turn left on E. Gutierrez St. Turn right on Chapala St and stop at 524 Chapala St.

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