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Friday July 11, 2008

Eastern Eden: Putting Contra Costa/Tri-Valley/Tri-City on the Jewish map

by dan pine
staff writer

Take the small, back roads through Danville and Alamo and San Ramon, and you’d swear you were passing through God’s country.

Cattle graze on green slopes. Hawks circle above, just clearing the occasional windmill. It’s quiet, the rumble of great cities muffled by the East Bay hills.

This part of Contra Costa County is God’s country. At least, that’s the belief of residents and Jewish community professionals eager to sustain Jewish growth in the 925 area code and along the I-680 corridor.

While the South Bay remains the fastest growing Jewish community in the Bay Area, the Jews of the so-called “CCC/Tri-Valley/Tri-City” region have made a run for it.

Spread out across nearly 800 square miles (north to the Benicia-Martinez bridge and south to Fremont), within a population of just under 1 million people, is a diverse Jewish community more than 60,000 strong.

That’s up more than 150 percent since 1986 and accounts for nearly half of all East Bay Jews. They live in the larger urban centers such as Concord and Walnut Creek, in the upscale enclaves such as Orinda and Blackhawk, and in outposts such as Pacheco and Livermore.

Like their confreres in Berkeley and Oakland, the Jews up and down the I-680 corridor are building community at a faster pace than ever before.

The area now boasts many Jewish institutions, including a premiere senior residence — the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living — in Danville, a JCC in Walnut Creek and at least 10 synagogues dotting the map.

Philanthropists like Atherton’s Lorry Lokey and Jewish charitable organizations like the Koret Foundation each recently gave million-dollar donations to Contra Costa Jewish institutions, far from their respective home bases in the South Bay and San Francisco.

A spate of capital projects –– such as the construction of new synagogues for Danville’s Beth Chaim Congregation and Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton –– have beautified and energized the Jewish community.

And the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay even hired a regional director, Valerie Jonas, to serve the area full time.

For Jonas, the roads most traveled include I-680 from Concord to Fremont, I-580 from Dublin to Livermore and Highway 24 from the federation’s regional office in Walnut Creek to Orinda.

“My role is to stay in touch with all Jewish entities here,” says the Livermore resident, who also serves on the board of j., “and make sure we bring needed community resources to places where it has the most impact.”

One of those places is Contra Costa Jewish Day School, located on the campus of Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.

Dean Goldfein has served as head of school since its inception nearly eight years ago. He is proud of his faculty, staff and student body, which totals 94 students spanning all levels of Jewish observance, and of the school’s emphasis on Jewish ethics (every grade must do community service).

The K-8 school has become a hub of regional Jewish life, drawing students from across the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.

Now the school is set to expand with a $7.5 million capital project that includes a state-of-the-art gym, science lab and additional classrooms. With all of the construction, the school’s normally tranquil setting has gone out the window — at least for now.

A significant seven-figure portion of the funding for the construction has come from Lokey and Koret. “Of all the grants I’ve been involved with, Koret’s is one of the most aggressive,” says Craig Issod, a consultant to nonprofits, who helped manage the school’s capital campaign. “My sense is the school’s potential to transform Jewish life in the county was an attractive opportunity for them.”

Though he lives in San Francisco, Issod is a big fan of the Jewish communities in the 925 area code, and their growth does not surprise him.

“There really is enough out there for everyone,” Issod says. “There’s a quality of life that appeals to people who love the Bay Area but want to be slightly removed from an urban center and still have a Jewish community.”

About a third of the federation’s donors –– and a third of the campaign dollars –– originate in the region the federation has taken to calling “CCC/Tri-Valley/Tri-City.”

“CCC” refers to the part of Contra Costa County on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel; “Tri-Valley” is the Livermore, Amador and San Ramon valleys (which includes the cities of Pleasanton, Dublin and Danville); “Tri-City” is Fremont, Union City and Newark.

These areas are a world away from San Francisco, in more ways than mere miles. The numbers tell the tale.

Though the Jewish populations are roughly commensurate (65,800 in San Francisco, 58,000 in all of Contra Costa County) the density stats greatly contrast: 1,400 Jews per square mile in San Francisco, 81 in Contra Costa. There are 14 major congregations in San Francisco, six in the 925 area code.

That’s why Jewish community leaders seek those “points of connectivity” for the widely disbursed Jewish community within the 925 area code and along the I-680 corridor. The day school is one.

Another is the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek.

Founded in 1976, the Contra Costa JCC draws members from cities such as Martinez (8 miles to the north) and Pleasanton (18 miles to the south). In addition to child care, camps and aquatics, programming has expanded to include annual events such as the Contra Costa Jewish Film Festival and Jewish Book Festival, which are co-sponsored by the federation.

“We revisited our mission statement,” says JCC Executive Director Jamie Hyams, “and clarified our service area to include the Tri-Valley and Alameda County areas.”

A few years ago, the JCC struggled with budgetary shortfalls. But Hyams, on the job less than two years, says things are looking up.

“We worked hard the last few years to turn the ship around,” she adds. “Last year we had a very small deficit and this year we’re aiming for breaking even.”

The JCC is set for a $35 million, 5,000-square-foot facelift sometime in the not-too-distant future. The redevelopment includes a new fitness center, glass lobby, expanded classroom space and an auditorium/banquet room.

When completed, it will be a far cry from the more modest former elementary school that currently houses the JCC.

Though several million dollars have been donated already, Hyams says she and her board have begun “the quiet phase of a capital campaign to tear down and renovate the center. We’re moving forward through the city approvals.”

While “growth” is often a positive buzzword, growing pains sometimes come with the territory.

In Alameda County, the open space between Dublin and Livermore along I-580 is rapidly vanishing. In its place, clusters of multistory housing, chain restaurants and big-box stores choke the once-verdant fields.

But that means the population is rising, and with it, the number of Jews in the Livermore, Pleasanton and Danville areas.

“Pleasanton has maxed out at 70,000 but Dublin is growing unbelievably,” says Raleigh Resnick, rabbi of Chabad of the Tri-Cities. “We estimate in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore there are approximately 9,000 to 10,000 Jews. But where are they?”

To find out, Resnick did his own investigating when he and his wife, Fruma, first set up shop three years ago with $100,000 in seed money.

He combed through local public records to scope out what struck him as Jewish last names. He worked with local supermarkets to increase stocks of kosher foods. He helped install mezuzahs (93 homes so far), gave out Friday night candle kits, sold tefillin and loaves of challah.

And to round out the Chabad playbook, he launched a public menorah-lighting tradition at Pleasanton’s Stoneridge Mall.

The results? He projects 70 children will be enrolled in the Chabad Sunday School next year and a waiting list for the preschool. Resnick is also in escrow for a Pleasanton property that will become the local Chabad House and rabbi’s residence.

“When you have your own space, the possibilities for programs expands exponentially,” he says. “Even in the Chabad world, the growth we’ve had is amazing. The Jews are coming out of the woodwork, and [Chabad] offers them an opportunity to be part of the community.”

Rabbi Roberto Graetz of Lafayette’s Temple Isaiah also reports growth, but at a slower pace. His large congregation has “never been aggressive about recruitment,” Graetz explains. “Everyone is welcome, but if we grow too fast we can’t integrate people into the community.”

The Reform temple registers a net growth of about 10 to 15 families a year.

If the region does grow faster than other Bay Area Jewish communities, it will be due to “civilian” activists like Karla Smith of Alamo.

A past president of the board of Contra Costa Jewish Day School, Smith is, according to Issod, “the most tireless advocate for Jewish life” who is “single-handedly responsible for raising close to $7 million for the school so far.”

Born and raised in tiny Cape May, N.J., Smith was the only Jewish kid in her school. She learned firsthand the centrality of community to Jewish life, and dedicated much of her adult life to strengthening it. An educational therapist by training, she moved from Washington, D.C., to Contra Costa County more than 25 years ago.

Smith wasted no time before getting involved with the Jewish community, serving on the boards of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek, the federation, the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living (and its predecessor, the Home for Jewish Parents), the JCC and AIPAC.

“[The 925 area code] is probably the future of Jewish life,” she says, “because a lot of young families are moving out here.”

Which is why more than eight years ago she and Mila Wichter saw the need to launch a Jewish day school. Contra Costa Jewish Day School opened in Lafayette in 2001 as a K-3 school with 22 students.

Last June, the school graduated its first eighth-grade class, nine students in all, four of whom opted to enroll in the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco. “It instilled something in them,” notes Smith of the positive impact of Jewish education.

Smith chalks up the region’s growth to the usual reasons: good housing, good schools and safe neighborhoods.

Those same factors are also at work in southern Alameda County, another burgeoning part of the region under the watch of Jonas, the federation’s regional director. However, this area is in the 510 area code, perhaps leaving it a bit isolated from its 925 brethren.

“We’re the only game in town,” says Temple Beth Torah President Pip Ziman of his Fremont synagogue.

There are no other Jewish institutions in Fremont at this point, but Ziman sees his city as ideal for Jewish growth.

“Fremont has attracted people from all over the world,” Ziman says. “It’s ingrained in the community: This is a good place for someone from another place. It has to do with good schools, affordable housing and a convenient commute location. What’s exciting about it is it’s a great place to be Jewish.”

He says if a child wears a yarmulke at the local public school, he won’t stand out, because the kid next to him might be wearing the skullcap of another religion. And the girl sitting on the other side might be wearing a sari.

Ziman says his congregation had been losing members, but the number has stabilized in recent years at around 200 families. With a new spiritual leader, Rabbi Avi Schulman, Ziman believes his synagogue community is “revitalized.”

He also praises the federation’s increased involvement in his part of the East Bay, citing Jonas’ hands-on approach.

“Up until last year, there had been very little interaction with federation,” Ziman notes. “Valerie has really reached out and put actions behind her words. We feel for the first time we’re part of the federation.”

This past year, the East Bay Midrasha program shifted from Beth Torah to Beth Emek in Pleasanton. Ziman stresses that he sees those two congregations –– located about a 20-minute drive apart –– as working cooperatively, not competitively, to build the Jewish community in southeastern Alameda County.

That cooperative spirit seems to cut across all Jewish institutions in the region, especially in light of the growing pride throughout the communities of the I-680 corridor and in southern Alameda County.

The region may never fully coalesce the way San Francisco has. As Temple Isaiah’s Rabbi Graetz notes, “The distances are great and traffic is impossible. So everyone is building their own community and geographically that makes sense.”

As the region grows, perhaps “never say never” would make for a better catchphrase.

Still, for the moment, at least in one part of 925 area code, a Jewish community is a new and mysterious thing.

“Someone asked me if I was a Quaker,” Resnick, who dresses in traditional Chabad garb, says with a laugh. “Then in Trader Joe’s, a man approached me and said he’d heard there was a large Chassidic community moving in. I told him it was probably just me he was seeing over and over.”

cover design | cathleen macclearie

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