JEWISH COMMUNITY LIBRARY

    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 PM
    Tues. 11 AM-5 PM
    Thurs. 11 AM-5 PM

    Pushcart Branch at the OFJCC
    3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto
    Wed. 8:30 AM-1 PM

    Contact

    415.567.3327
    info@jewishcommunitylibrary.org
    Events
    eBooks
    Support Us

    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

    Paper Tombs : by Rich, Jennifer Eve
    Homebound : by Elan, Portia
    Postcards to Hitler : by Neuburger, Bruce
    Judaism Mediated : by Yares, Laura
    We Are Black Jews : by Malkai, Roni
    Caravan of Hope : by Abraham-Klein, Dahlia
    This Ain't Rock 'N' Roll : by Rachel, Daniel
    Когда рок-н-ролл был зеленым : by IlʹIchev, Leonid (Ильичев, Леонид)
    Goodbye, Tahrir Square : by Zarmati, Elio
    The Way It Haunted Him / by Samotin, Laura R
    At Last : by Silver, Marisa
    The Fire Agent : by Baerwald, David
    Shabbat Is . . . : by Sass, A. J
    Rogues Gallery / by Schechter, Joel
    Brooklyn Odyssey : by Newfield, Zalman
    Love and Other Enchantments : by Zur-Glozman, Masha
    Jews In the Soviet Union :
    Animals Are Shouting Down From the Sky : by Greinetz, Genevieve
    Linked / by Korman, Gordon
    Waiting On A Friend : by Adler, Natalie
    Jewish Firebugs : by Marx, Jeffrey A
    Aviva Vs. the Dybbuk / by Lowe, Mari
    Fifty-Seven Fridays : by Sack, Myra
    Chutzpah : by Fletcher, Yehudis
    Troika : by Smith, Irena
    Reviving the Artist Who Fought Hitler : by Ungar, Irvin
    Who Is American? : by Berman, Lila Corwin
    The Ravine : by Lower, Wendy
    Don't Feed the Lion / by Golodryga, Bianna
    The Book of Elsie / by Levy, Joanne
    Ransom : by Silva, Daniel
    The Second Journey / by Bigman, Joel
    The Princeton Companion to Jewish Studies /
    Montage : by Fogel, Devorah
    The Jewish Policeman : by Dunsky, Jonathan
    Jonah / by Stein, Tammar
    The Disordered Cosmos : by Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
    Golem Crafters / by Cohen, Emi Watanabe
    Happy New Years : by Arad, Maya
    The Last Time We Saw Her : by Goldis, Jaclyn

    Upcoming Events

    Behind Ancient Bars: Narratives of Incarceration in the Hebrew Bible, with Hadar AviramIn-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 Behind Ancient Bars, law professor and rabbinical student Hadar Aviram challenges the conventional assumption that incarceration is an artifact of modernity by looking back […]
    Thu, Sep 03
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
    Jewish Community Library
    1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
    View Detail

    The Empty Envelope: Family Secrets and a Grandfather’s Legacy, with Rhona S. Weinstein and Harvey M. WeinsteinVirtual

    Please register for this free online program. In 1921 Vienna, Eisig Lubetzky—a gifted Jewish writer, critic, and former child prodigy—died by suicide, leaving behind a wife, three children, and a silence so profound it shaped generations. Nearly a century later, his psychologist granddaughter and her psychiatrist husband set out to uncover the truth of who […]
    Wed, Sep 09
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
    Virtual via Zoom
    View Detail

    Film Screening: Overture to Glory (Der Vilner Shtot Khazn)In-Person

    Please register to attend this free in-person film screening, followed by a discussion. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy.   Based on a true story from the nineteenth century, Max Nosseck’s 1940 Yiddish musical drama stars the great Moishe […]
    Thu, Sep 17
    6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
    Jewish Community Library
    1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
    View Detail

    Language and Identity in Contemporary Israeli Poetry, with Merav RozenblumIn-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.   As Hebrew became the dominant, and later the official, language of the Jews in the land of Israel and later the State of Israel, many […]
    Thu, Sep 24
    6:00 pm - 7:15 pm
    Jewish Community Library
    1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
    View Detail

    Songs of Sukkot with the Jewish Music CollectiveIn-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.   The Jewish Music Collective will celebrate Sukkot with an eclectic program of klezmer, Yiddish, Ladino, Israeli, jazz, folk, musical theatre, and contemporary music. Inspired by […]
    Wed, Sep 30
    7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
    Jewish Community Library
    1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
    View Detail

    Reviving the Artist Who Fought Hitler: My Life with Arthur Szyk, with Irvin UngarIn-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.   During World War II, the Polish-Jewish immigrant Arthur Szyk became America’s leading anti-Nazi artist. His art was so effective that Adolf Hitler reportedly put a […]
    Sun, Oct 11
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
    Jewish Community Library
    1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
    View Detail

    Black, Jewish, and Beautiful: Contemporary Blewish Voices, with Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Sara Feldman, and Brett Ashley KaplanVirtual

    Please register for this free online program. Black, Jewish, and Beautiful (Syracuse University Press, 2026) brings together powerful perspectives and showcases the vastly divergent ways people come to inhabit a shared Blewish, or Black Jewish identity. These voices demonstrate that Black Jewishness is just one dimension of their multifaceted lives as they explore how they […]
    Wed, Oct 28
    6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
    Virtual via Zoom
    View Detail
    No event found!

    Main Branch

    Location
    1835 Ellis Street
    San Francisco, CA 94115

    Hours
    Sundays noon to 4 PM
    Mondays 11 AM to 5 PM
    Tuesdays 11 AM to 5 PM
    Thursdays 11 AM to 5 PM

    Phone
    415-567-3327

    Email
    info@jewishcommunitylibrary.org

    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

    Email
    info@jewishcommunitylibrary.org

    Palo Alto Pushcart

    Location
    Oshman Family JCC
    3921 Fabian Way
    Palo Alto, CA 94303

    Hours
    Wednesdays 8:30 AM to 1 PM