A majority of Jewish households in San Diego County have concerns about antisemitism both nationwide and abroad, and roughly 13 percent said they had personally experienced antisemitism in the last year, according to a recently published report about the local Jewish community.
And that level of concern has only risen since Israel declared war against Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., according to local Jewish leaders.
Titled “A Blueprint for Our Future,” the 131-page study published earlier this month by Brandeis University and the University of Chicago paints an optimistic portrait of the community’s future, while also highlighting the stark challenges facing Jewish San Diegans.
The study, organized by five local Jewish community organizations, is the first of its kind in 20 years and provides a comprehensive report detailing how their congregations and fellow community members are feeling and what they’re experiencing, officials said.
This weekend, a panel of experts and representatives of the organizations will come together to discuss the report and how the San Diego County Jewish community can move forward together.
The report consists of survey responses from 2,104 local Jewish adults given from June to September of last year. According to the findings, the local Jewish community has grown to over 100,700 individuals — a 13 percent increase over the last two decades — with over half of Jewish adults attending at least one religious service in the previous year.
And while 27 percent of the local Jewish population is over the age of 65, in comparison to 23 percent of all U.S. Jews, the population of Jewish individuals ages 18 to 34 in San Diego County is higher than the national average.
“We worry all the time that young people are not connecting Jewishly, but that is not what we saw,” said Heidi Gantwerk, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego. “They’re just doing it differently than their parents do.”
Approximately half of Jewish adults volunteered with at least one nonprofit organization — Jewish or non-Jewish — and 70 percent feel some sense of belonging to the Jewish community.
Maiya Haberman and Molly Thong load up bags of items that represent Seder offerings for Passover 2022 at the Center for Jewish Care on Balboa Avenue in Kearny Mesa. Recipients included Holocaust survivors, housebound seniors and those living in poverty.
(Nancee E. Lewis/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“We have a lot of people getting involved in making a difference in their community, and that just says a lot about the Jews and the notion of ‘tikkun olam,’ which means to ‘repair the world,’” Gantwerk said. “It’s just so much a part of who we are.”
However, some trends revealed by the survey were worrisome to Gantwerk and her colleagues, including the level of antisemitism experienced.
“We still have 400 local Holocaust survivors living in San Diego who are a constant reminder of why we need to be vigilant in addressing all forms of hate against Jews and others,” said Carole Yellen, senior director for Jewish care at the Jewish Family Service of San Diego. “Because, unfortunately, when we normalize it, it can have devastating consequences.”
Anti-Defamation League director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt reported a 388 percent increase in antisemitic attacks nationwide earlier this month, largely driven by the Israel-Hamas war.
“It’s a huge worry for our Jewish community, especially in this moment,” Yellen said. “But if we focus on only identifying our Jewish community as ‘victims of antisemitism,’ we miss celebrating the beauty of this tradition.”
The study also reported that roughly 1 in 5 local Jewish households is considered low-income in San Diego County, and 6 percent of all Jewish households said they were unable to pay in full an unexpected $400 emergency expense.
Rabbi Ron Shulman of Congregation Beth El in La Jolla said living on relatively low incomes in the Jewish community often impacts families’ ability to enroll a child in private Jewish school, attend Sunday School or drive a child to after-school Hebrew classes. One-quarter of the 17,770 K-12 children in San Diego Jewish households participated in some form of Jewish schooling during the 2021-22 school year, according to the report.
“That’s our opportunity to lay a foundation of solid Jewish engagement and identity,” Shulman said. He added, “But there are not enough opportunities in the larger community to provide Jewish educational access that’s not about paying tuition or whatever other barrier finances present.”
When local Jewish leaders gather to discuss the survey’s findings on Sunday, a major focus will be finding solutions to the issues presented in the report.
CEO Betzy Lunch serves meals during a Hanukkah celebration at The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center on Dec. 21, 2022 in San Diego.
(Eduardo Contreras/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
For instance, in order to improve availability of cultural education opportunities, Shulman said he would like to see the local Jewish schools working together more to combine resources.
“Why should four different synagogues be offering a religious school program separately, each spending money and hiring people? Why aren’t the best and the brightest coming together and centralizing those resources for the benefit of all of the kids?” Schulman asked.
To further help economically disadvantaged members of their community, Yellen suggested giving more support to local aid resources and spreading awareness about the work they do.
“I really hope that we will drive toward a small number of community areas of focus, where we can really pay significantly wide attention and invest significant resources to really move the needle,” Gantwerk said.
The event “A Blueprint for Our Future Release: A Community Conversation and Reception” is scheduled for 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla. To learn more about it or to register to attend, visit lfjcc.org/about/blueprint.aspx.
