Jewish Family Service
Standing with San Diego's Holocaust survivors
Fellowship at the New Life Club and urgent help through Kavod SHEF, for the survivors who call San Diego home.
Caring for Jews in Need
No one should face hardship alone.
A community safety net, so no need falls through the cracks: chaplaincy, survivor care, emergency aid, and partners at home and around the world.
From a hospital bedside in San Diego to a crisis half a world away, Jewish Federation of San Diego makes sure that in the hardest moments, no one is left to face them alone.
365+
individuals served through chaplaincy this year
745+
funerals, visits, and consultations
22
Holocaust survivors gathering monthly at the New Life Club
$278K+
in targeted local grants sustaining Jewish life
Featured · Jewish Chaplaincy
A presence in life's most tender moments
Rabbi Ralph Dalin, our Jewish Community Chaplain, responds to the acute pastoral and spiritual needs of unaffiliated Jews in San Diego County who are ill, at the end of life, or experiencing life crises, including those in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and prisons.
This year the Chaplaincy program arranged for the officiation at 26 funerals or memorial services as well as facilitating over 400 hospital volunteer visits.
Community Chaplaincy →Partner spotlight
The partners behind the safety net
Unique grants let local partners do what they could not do alone. Here are three of them.
Hebrew Free Loan
A hand up, interest-free
Interest-free loans that help neighbors bridge a financial gap, backed by Federation's Guarantor Fund.
Jewish Fertility Foundation
Help on the path to parenthood
New in San Diego with Federation's support: help with the cost of fertility treatment, support groups, and education for hopeful parents.
Why this matters
No one should face illness, loss, or isolation alone.
This is the most personal expression of a core Jewish value. That in our hardest moments, we are held by community. Jewish Federation of San Diego and our partners make that value real: through the presence of a chaplain at a bedside, the fellowship of survivors who found a home here, and practical help for families in crisis.
Alongside chaplaincy, Federation sustains the ecosystem of care through strategic grantmaking, humanitarian emergency response, and dedicated support for local Holocaust survivors, meeting need wherever it grows, and directing resources where they matter most.
How our care reaches the community
From crisis response to everyday connection, the programs behind the promise.
New Life Club
The New Life Club is a social group where Survivors and their families can connect, share, and find solace. Founded in 1953, the club still meets monthly for a variety of activities, including lectures, concerts, shows, and meals, creating a vibrant and supportive environment.
Connect →Emergency Aid for Survivors
Kavod SHEF, a matching grant with Seed the Dream Foundation, directs assistance for survivors facing urgent financial, medical, or housing needs, delivered with dignity through Federation to local partner agencies.
Ask about aid →Humanitarian Emergency Response
When crisis strikes, locally or globally, Federation mobilizes the community's resources quickly and directs them where the need is greatest.
How we respond →Strategic Grantmaking
Unique grants to local partners such as Jewish Family Service and Hebrew Free Loan let them reach people and needs they could not reach on their own, from emergency help for Holocaust survivors to interest-free loans for neighbors in a hard moment.
Community Needs & Gaps
Good decisions start with knowing our community. Federation actively invests in local research and shares national findings that help shape our community.
Explore our research →Burial Assistance
One of our community's sacred responsibilities, Federation maintains an indigent burial fund to enable the most vulnerable in our community to have access to a Jewish burial.
Learn more →Who we serve
Care that meets community members wherever they are.
Holocaust survivors
The survivors who call San Diego home, with fellowship, honor, and practical help.
Homebound & isolated seniors
Older adults facing loneliness, illness, or the loss of a spouse or friend.
Families in crisis
Households facing poverty, a medical emergency, or a sudden financial shock.
The sick, dying & bereaved
Anyone in need of a chaplain's presence in a hospital, hospice, or home.
Supporting Jews around the world
Wherever Jews need us, we show up.
Being part of a global Jewish people means caring for Jews wherever they are, and whenever they need us. Every year, your gift to Jewish Federation of San Diego helps our partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel, and World ORT, reach Jewish communities in Israel and more than 70 countries.
When crisis hits, we respond quickly and together. After October 7, all 141 Jewish Federations in North America joined the Israel relief effort, and San Diegans gave more than $8 million. We have also helped after the Morocco earthquake and sent goods to war-torn Ukraine, and we stood with Pittsburgh after the Tree of Life shooting.
Our response is rooted in a simple Jewish idea: kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh, all of Israel is responsible for one another.
Give to the Annual Campaign to support Jews in need here, in Israel, and around the world.
Emergency response
When disaster strikes, we move fast.
When floods tore through the Texas Hill Country in July 2025, killing more than 130 people, Jewish communities didn't wait to be asked. Within a day, Shalom Austin, the Jewish federation in Austin, opened a relief fund, and Jewish Federations across the country, including ours, pointed donors there so help could reach families faster.
The response was extraordinary: more than $840,000 from 3,239 donors in 46 states and Canada. That money paid for emergency financial help, food and supplies, free counseling for children and adults, case management for families rebuilding their lives, and mental-health support for first responders in Kerrville. CADENA, a Jewish humanitarian group, mucked out flooded homes and cleared debris. Help went to everyone who needed it, not only Jewish families.
That is how the Federation system works. No community has to face a crisis alone, because we are connected to Federations, Jewish Family Services, and global partners who can act in hours, not weeks. San Diego knows this too: when war came to Ukraine in 2022, 679 San Diego donors gave more than $570,000 in four months.
Be part of the next response. Your gift keeps Federation ready to act the moment a call comes in.
$840,000+
raised for Texas flood relief through Shalom Austin
3,239
donors gave
46 states
plus Canada
Latest stories
Recent stories from our News & Blog.
Care like this is worth investing in.
Your gift helps ensure that no one in our community faces illness, loss, or isolation alone.
Questions? We're here.
For questions about chaplaincy, grants, our global partners, or how to help, reach the Caring for Jews in Need team.