My pen is my harp and my lyre;
My library is my garden and my orchard.
–Yehuda Halevi, c. 1075–1141
Hours
Main Branch
1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco
Sun. noon-4 PM
Mon. 11 AM-5:30 PM
Tues. 11 AM-5:30 PM
Thurs. 11 AM-5:30 PM
Pushcart Branch at the OFJCC
3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto
Wed. 8:30 AM-1 PM
Contact
415.567.3327
info@jewishcommunitylibrary.org
For more than seventy years, the Jewish Community Library has offered the Bay Area a place to discover and engage with the riches of Jewish thought, culture, and history.
New Arrivals
Upcoming Events
A Flower Traveled in My Blood, with Haley Cohen GillilandVirtual
Please register for this free online program, co-presented by Jewtina y Co. In A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children, Haley Cohen Gilliland tells the story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, grandmothers who fought to find their stolen grandchildren […]
Jewish Music in Transylvania, with Zoë AquaIn-Person
Please register for this free in-person program co-presented by KlezCalifornia. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. Transylvania (most of which lies in northwestern Romania) was for centuries home to many Jewish communities, with distinctive musical traditions. Zoë Aqua, who […]
The Roots of the Guava Tree: Growing Up Jewish and Arab in Colombia, with Sonia Daccarett and Chanan TigayIn-Person
Click here to learn more about this event at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, presented in partnership with Congregation Beth Sholom, the Jewish Community Library, and Brandeis SF. Join author Sonia Daccarett and journalist Chanan Tigay for an intimate conversation about Daccarett’s debut memoir, The Roots of the Guava Tree: Growing Up Jewish […]
Woven Roots: Recovering the Healing Plant Traditions of Jews and Their Neighbors in Eastern Europe, with Deatra Cohen and Adam SiegelIn-Person
Please register for this free in-person program. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. Woven Roots, a companion guide to Ashkenazi Herbalism, explores the rich history of plant-based medicine and folk healing traditions of Eastern Europe from 1600 through […]
The Rabbi’s Suitcase, with Robert Kehlmann and Carole JoffeIn-Person
To register for this free in-person program, click here. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. Author Robert Kehlmann will be in conversation with Dr. Carole Joffe about his new novel, The Rabbi’s Suitcase, and its exploration of the enduring […]
Together in Manzanar, with Tracy SlaterVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program. On a late March morning in the spring of 1942, Elaine Yoneda awoke to a series of terrible choices: between her family and freedom, her country and conscience, and her son and daughter. She was the child of Russian Jewish immigrants, the wife of a Japanese […]
The Courtyard, with Alexa Morris and Benjamin ParketVirtual
Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program, as Alexa Morris and Benjamin Parket present Parket’s memoir, The Courtyard. It’s 1937, the eve of World War II, and young Bernard lives with his Polish-immigrant family in a working-class courtyard in Paris. While there aren’t many other Jews in the courtyard – […]
Drop-In Book Discussion: Your Presence Is Mandatory, by Sasha VasilyukIn-Person
Join us for an in-person discussion at the Jewish Community Library, facilitated by Jim Van Buskirk. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking on Pierce between Ellis and Eddy. To register, click here. You may borrow a copy of Your Presence Is Mandatory at no charge as […]
Notes from Exile, with Sabina BaralIn-Person
To register for this free in-person program, click here. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. “Moving, truthful, and wise account of exile from Poland in 1968.” —Olga Tokarczuk, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature In 1968, the Communist […]
Closing the Door: The 1924 Immigration Act and Its Impact on Jewish and Asian Communities, with Hasia Diner and Bill Ong HingVirtual
Click here to register for this free virtual program, co-presented by the Workers Circle / Arbeter Ring of Northern California. Jewish Americans have long known how the 1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act prevented many of their ancestors from escaping death during the Holocaust. Less well-known and understood in the Jewish community is the role this Act […]
Carole King: She Made the Earth Move, with Jane EisnerVirtual
Click here to register for this free virtual program, co-presented by New Lehrhaus. Carole King’s extraordinary career has defined American popular music for more than half a century. Born in New York City in 1942, she shaped the soundtrack of 1960s teen culture with such songs as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” one of many […]
PROTOCOLS: An Erasure, with Daniela Naomi MolnarIn-Person
Please register for this free in-person program co-presented by New Lehrhaus. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. PROTOCOLS: An Erasure transforms the world’s most influential antisemitic document, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, into an erasure poem exploring essential […]
Imagining Early American Jews, with Michael HobermanVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program, co-presented by New Lehrhaus. Michael Hoberman examines how the Jewish experiences of the American Revolution, slaveholding in the early republic and antebellum period, and westward migration have been imagined, commemorated, and frequently mythologized. Focusing on how historical relationships between Jews and Native Americans and Jews and […]
Philip Roth: Stung by Life, with Steve Zipperstein, in Conversation with Sue FishkoffIn-Person
To register for this free in-person program, click here. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. In this groundbreaking literary biography, Steven J. Zipperstein captures the complex life and astonishing work of Philip Roth (1933–2018), one of America’s most celebrated […]
Buber and Gandhi: Dialogue and Disappointment, with Howard SimonIn-Person
Please register to attend this free in-person program. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. In 1938, shortly after Kristallnacht, Jewish and Zionist leaders Martin Buber, Judah Magnes and Hayyim Greenberg engaged in spirited correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi regarding the […]
The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City, with Henry SapoznikVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program. The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City (State University of New York Press, 2025) offers a new look at over a century of New York’s Yiddish popular culture. Henry Sapoznik tells the story in chapters on theater, music, architecture, crime, Blacks and Jews, restaurants, […]
The Lady Who Changed Dickens’s Mind on the Jews, with Liz IsonVirtual
Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program. In 1863 Eliza Davis, a London Jewish housewife and mother of ten, wrote to Charles Dickens accusing him of prejudice against Jewish people for his derogatory portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist. Correspondence between the two persuaded Dickens to rethink his relationship with […]
Dog: A Novel, with Yishay Ishi Ron and Yardenne GreenspanVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program, with author Yishay Ishi Ron and translator Yardenne Greenspan in conversation. Dog is a haunting, unflinching exploration of PTSD, addiction, and redemption, told through the lens of an Israeli officer returning from Gaza. Struggling with his trauma, he descends into heroin addiction and finds himself among […]
East End Jews, with Vivi LachsVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program. Vivi Lachs will introduce her new book with a lively presentation with performed readings and a couple of Cockney Yiddish songs. East End Jews is a book of sketches from the London Yiddish press. It offers an unparalleled view into the life, labor, politics, and joys of […]
Kavkazi “Mountain Jews,” with Valeriya NakshunVirtual
Please register for this free online program. The Jewish community of the Caucasus, the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian Seas, is known by many names. The term “Kavkazi,” derived from the Russian word for Caucasus, and “Mountain Jews” have been used interchangeably. Traditionally, however, this community has called themselves “Juhuro,” meaning “Jews” in […]
Reviewing Fagin, 1948-2005, with Charles DrazinVirtual
Click here to register for this free online program. David Lean’s 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist provoked so many protests against perceived antisemitism in Alec Guinness’s portrayal of Fagin that the film was withheld from release in the United States until cuts had been made. Yet twenty years later, in Carol Reed’s musical version of […]
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Main Branch
Location
1835 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Hours
Sundays noon to 4 PM
Mondays 11 AM to 5:30 PM
Tuesdays 11 AM to 5:30 PM
Thursdays 11 AM to 5:30 PM
Phone
415-567-3327
Palo Alto Pushcart
Location
Oshman Family JCC
3921 Fabian Way
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Hours
Wednesdays 8:30 AM to 1 PM
Main Branch
Location
1835 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Hours
Sundays noon to 4 PM
Mondays 11 AM to 4 PM
Thursdays 11 AM to 4 PM
Phone
415-567-3327
Palo Alto Pushcart
Location
Oshman Family JCC
3921 Fabian Way
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Hours
Wednesdays 8:30 AM to 1 PM