September 2003

IN THIS ISSUE: Progress Report | What’s New at CJL | Who’s Who at CJL

Welcome to the first Campus for Jewish Life online newsletter! We are pleased to announce the official launch of our website at www.campusforjewishlife.org, where visitors can sign up to receive future updates and important news about the Campus by email. Help spread the word by forwarding this message.

Since acquiring the former headquarters site of Sun Microsystems, the partners in the Campus for Jewish Life have been hard at work planning the transformation of 901 San Antonio Road. The Campus was recently featured in a San Jose Mercury News article titled, “Jewish center has ambitious plans for new Palo Alto site: 12-acre town square makes room for housing.”

The Jewish Community Center has completed its program plan, a key step in designing a new JCC from the ground up that will serve pre-schoolers, children, teens, families and adults of all ages for generations to come, as well as provide a central gathering place for the community. The South Peninsula headquarters of the Jewish Community Federation and offices of other local organizations serving the Jewish community will be located at the JCC. The new JCC plan was developed with input from hundreds of South Peninsula Jewish community members and local groups, as well as visits to other new JCCs around the country, including recently opened facilities in New York City and Austin, Texas. With two JCCs under construction here in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Foster City), the Palo Alto project is also benefiting from the experience of other projects that are farther along.

In June, the Jewish Home reached a major milestone in its planning for senior living residences at CJL that will enable older Jewish adults to remain in our community as part of a vibrant, intergenerational Jewish environment. With more than 130 years of experience caring for older adults at its original location in San Francisco, the Jewish Home will continue to serve 430 residents there while increasing its ability to serve the community by developing new residential options at the Campus for Jewish Life.

Visit Us at the Street Festival! The Campus for Jewish Life is a major sponsor of this year’s To Life! Jewish Cultural Street Festival which will be held on September 21. Look for CJL near the main stage on California Avenue and stop by to see the first model of the new JCC and the senior living residences.

The South Peninsula Jewish Community Needs You! Attend the Jewish Community Forum on October 28. Public support for CJL will be critical in the coming months. Find out more about how you can help assure that our project moves forward by attending the second CJL Jewish community forum on Tuesday, October 28 at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium (4000 Middlefield Road) beginning at 7:30 p.m. Last year’s forum provided invaluable input to the project planning team, the Jewish Home and the JCC about the community’s needs, priorities, hopes and dreams. Please mark your calendar and plan to join us!

Special Thanks The Campus for Jewish Life would like to thank Interweave Studios for their generous donation of website development services and the html email publication system that have made our website and newsletter possible.

Alex Joffe, James Koshland and David Steirman Join Campus for Jewish Life Board. Three new directors have been named to the board of the Campus for Jewish Life, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation.

Alex Joffe has succeeded Carol Saal as president of the JCC in Palo Alto. Alex was born in Russia and later emigrated to Israel, where he studied at the Technion and later served as an officer in the Israeli navy. He came to Silicon Valley in 1993 to launch MMC Networks, which merged with AMCC in 2000. He also serves on the CJL Executive Operating Committee, which is responsible to the CJL Foundation Board for assuring that the project as a whole is carried out successfully.

Jim Koshland has been a partner in the law firm Gray Cary for more than 25 years and has served on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation, the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, Avenidas and numerous other local nonprofit organizations.

David Steirman is president of Kestrel Investment Management Corporation in San Mateo. He previously was president of the Jewish Community Relations Council and chaired the Jewish Community Federation’s 2001 annual campaign. David currently is vice president of the Jewish Home and chair of its Investment Committee. He has been a member of the CJL Executive Operating Committee since the land was acquired in 2002.

Other members of the CJL board include Carol Saal (president), John Freidenrich, John Goldman and Don Seiler.