Advocacy and Engagement in a Vibrant, Diverse City
AJC San Francisco connects our community with American Jewish Committee’s global advocacy work to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel. Our access to diplomats, elected officials, and interfaith leaders at the local level advances AJC’s broader global priorities: combating antisemitism, promoting Israel’s place in the world, and countering the spread of radicalism and extremism.
Our impact extends well beyond the San Francisco community, helping AJC achieve tangible results in the form of government policies, formidable alliances, and hard-hitting legislation that make our world safer and more secure.
We are situated in one of our nation’s most innovative and diverse cities. The Bay Area is at the forefront of technology and new ideas that are changing the way we think about our world. Our advocacy and programming reflect the spirit and opportunities of our community.
AJC San Francisco regularly engages in high-level diplomacy with the more than 35 countries that have diplomatic representatives in the city. Through pioneering interfaith and intergroup outreach, we build bridges of understanding with San Francisco’s Latino and Muslim communities. And our young professionals network, ACCESS San Francisco, brings together emerging Jewish leaders.
Upcoming Events
January 26, 2023
AJC SF International Forum: Update on France
Join AJC San Francisco for our first international forum of the new year. Frédéric Jung, Consul General of France in San Francisco, and Christopher Weissberg, Member of the French Parliament, will engage in a discussion on the current French and U.S. relationship, the experience of Jews in France, and much more.
Aristides De Sousa Mendes – The Consul of Bordeaux Film Screening & Conversation
Film Screening + Conversation
This International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the JCCSF, in partnership with the Consulate General of Portugal, American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center, will host a screening and discussion of the film The Consul of Bordeaux directed by Manuel Gonzales. Described as a Portuguese variation of Schindler’s List, The Consul of Bordeaux is based on the true story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches (1885-1954).
100 years ago, well before being posted to Bordeaux, Aristides Sousa Mendes was the Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco. When he was posted in Bordeaux, France in 1940, at great personal risk, he defied direct orders from his government and issued an estimated 30,000 visas and passports to those fleeing Nazi persecution, among them 10,000 Jews. In return for his defiance, he was severely punished, stripped of his diplomatic title and died in poverty in 1954. In 1966, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem – the National Authority for the Remembrance of the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust, posthumously named de Sousa Mendes Righteous Among the Nations and credited him with carrying out the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust. Yet despite this recognition his story remains largely unknown. Join us and discover this important story of one of the Second World War’s greatest unsung heroes. Run time: 90 min, with English subtitles.
6:00 PM Join us for a reception with Portuguese wines and small bites by Uma Casa 7:00 PM Film & talk back
Rabbi Serena Eisenberg has been Northern California Director of AJC since February 2018. Previously she spent ten years as Executive Director of Hillels at Stanford University and Brown University, and on sabbatical in Israel as a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute.