New Jewish chaplaincy program to start in San Francisco

The Northern California Board of Rabbis (NorCal BOR) announced Tuesday a new program called the Jewish Chaplaincy Program, intended to fill a notable gap in the unaffiliated Jewish community in San Francisco. 

According to NorCal BOR, the program will provide acute bedside pastoral care to unaffiliated Jewish patients in hospitals in San Francisco. It is also expected to develop a system for reaching out to spiritual care directors and hospitals to provide information and support for unaffiliated Jewish patients who are facing illness and end-of-life.

The board is currently looking to hire a part-time Rabbi-Chaplain to direct the initiative. 

According to a 2013 Pew poll, one in five American Jews identify as unaffiliated - or having "no religion." 

Jewish life in San Francisco 

The San Francisco Bay Area has the fourth largest Jewish population in the United States behind the New York area, southeast Florida and metropolitan Los Angeles.

The Jewish population in San Francisco Bay area has a higher percentage of young adults at 37% than that of any other recently conducted major American Jewish community study, according to a 2018 report. Not only are young people moving to the region (about 70% of the Jewish population comes from elsewhere); they are moving around once they get here. The Jewish population is growing in the East Bay while it is shrinking in San Francisco. 

Reflective of the Bay Area overall, the Jewish population is more diverse than any other community in the country. One in five Jewish households in San Francisco includes an LGBTQ+ individual. In the entire Bay Area, one in four Jewish households includes a Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American or a mixed or other ethnic or racial background (other than white) individual, the 2018 Portrait of Bay Area Jewish Life and Communities, the first-ever comprehensive examination of the Bay Area Jewish population, said. 

Danny Grossman contributed to this report.