We made a compass,
not a phone book.

If a Jew lands in the Bay Area on Thursday afternoon and needs Shabbos food, a shul that runs a Friday-night minyan, a mikvah by Sunday, and a bris by Wednesday — we wanted one page that answered all four.

Jewish Bay Area is a community reference directory for Northern California. Two overlapping audiences use it: locals who need a specific resource — a mohel, a kosher bakery, a Hebrew school, an end-of-life contact — and newcomers and tourists trying to build a picture of Jewish life in the region from scratch.

Every piece of Jewish life in the region is mapped here, organized by region (San Francisco, South Bay, East Bay, North Bay, Sacramento, Other) and by chapter (Organizations, Lifecycle, Education, Camps, Mikva, Kosher, Shuls, Services, Judaica, Holidays, Tourist Guide, Get Involved).

Our editorial policy

We are Chabad-forward. For most lifecycle events — a baby naming, a bar mitzvah, a High Holiday service, an end-of-life call — our first answer is refer to your local Chabad Rabbi. Every region on this site resolves to a specific Chabad house with a specific rabbi who will pick up the phone.

Beyond Chabad, we list approved frum non-Chabad options when they exist — the Vaad's certified caterer, an Orthodox day school across the county line, the RCC-guided conversion process. Every listing carries a label:

• Approved — meets the editorial standard, reviewed by our editorial team.
• Chabad — operated by a Chabad house.
• Pending — submitted to us but awaiting editor review.
• Listed without endorsement — included for completeness, but not an endorsement.

Every listing has an owner.

Every listing on this site is owned by a named editor responsible for keeping it accurate, and carries a last-reviewed date. Listings older than twelve months surface in an editor dashboard for re-review. This is the only way a directory stays trustworthy.

Gaps are signal.

When we don't have a listing for something we should — a birth-support network, a shochet in the South Bay, a kosher assisted-living facility — we show the gap rather than hide the page. Gaps on this site are signal, not failure. If you can help fill one, tell us.

Who builds this.

A volunteer editorial group. Real people, real names, drawn from the NorCal community. We argue about inclusion criteria, sanity-check each other's listings, and try to say I don't know when we don't know. If you want to help, the Get Involved page is where to start.

All of Israel are responsible for one another.
— Shevuot 39a