The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Jewish Silicon Valley is proud to be our community’s “big tent,” reaching out to communities throughout Silicon Valley to combat racism, divisiveness, and antisemitism with friendship and understanding. Jewish Silicon Valley’s JCRC honors our Jewish heritage by championing the Talmudic traditions of including many perspectives with respect. Our JCRC is led by representatives from all of our local Jewish agencies, along with other community volunteers, who create meaningful dialogue between each other, dedicated to pursuing a just society. Together, we are working to build bridges of understanding across faiths and cultural communities, as well as with elected officials and our local schools. These efforts are helping to weave an inclusive social fabric that allows the Jewish community to thrive.
JCRC creates opportunities for community members with diverse perspectives to connect, engage and coalesce around common causes. From affordable housing and climate change to immigration justice, healthcare access, and criminal justice reform, the JCRC actively develops pathways that deepen relationships and foster mutual understanding. Through long-term engagement, meaningful partnerships have been established with the African American, Latino, diverse East Asian and Southeast Asian, as well as Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and other local communities.
The network of relationships is built through large public gatherings such as the Los Gatos Stands United Against Hate Walk on November 14, 2021, and also through strengthening small cohorts of community leaders. Rev. George Oliver, the pastor at Grace Baptist Church in San Jose, has been sharing his experience growing up in the Black church with a group of rabbis and pastors who are in a JCRC book group reading “The Bible With and Without Jesus.” Along with convening faith leaders, JCRC has a central focus on civic engagement during election years. We will host candidate forums during the upcoming election season in partnership with the Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR), and Latinos United for a New America (LUNA). We hope you will join our efforts to secure a more equitable future that includes Jewish voices in the cultural richness of Silicon Valley.
It was even surprising to me how outspoken the Jewish community was against the Muslim travel ban. When we saw the statements made by the JCRC, the Federations, the ADL we were so thankful and grateful to have this allyship.
Scripture tells us that loyal Eleazar fought so, that his sword began to grip him back, as he tired. Our interfaith book study empowers us warriors and battle-axes of the word to cling more tightly to each other, partnering in ministry to face combative times like these.
Working with the Jewish Community, Diane, and the JCRC, we started a program called Halaqa-Seder, which we host with Jewish communities near the time of Passover. During the seder, we read each other’s Scriptures on the Exodus Story, which in one of the most often told stories in the Qur’an. We reenact parts of that story through dramatic plays or readings and break bread (matzah!) together. It’s become one of the most successful programs between Muslims and Jews in the Bay Area.
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