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Every page
One list, A to Z. Search is quicker if you already know what you are asking; this is for scanning.
A death has occurred: what to do first
The first hours, in order — who to call, what has to happen legally, and what not to agree to yet.
A gift in your will
The exact wording to name Chabad in a will, our legal name and EIN, and the questions people ask before they do it.
A place to stay — free hospitality suites
Two free one-bedroom suites for families who need to be near a hospital. No charge, no questions, no paperwork.
About
Who we are, how a Chabad House that burned down in 2021 came to own its building, and the people who run it.
About Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a philosophy, a movement, and an organization. It is considered to be the most dynamic force in Jewish life today.
About our Hebrew School
What a Sunday morning actually looks like, the four strands every year covers, and the questions parents ask before their child starts.
About the building
How we came to be building a permanent home on Almaden Expressway — and what will be inside it.
About the mezuzah
What a mezuzah is, what makes a scroll kosher, and how to take care of the ones on your doorposts.
Accessibility statement
What has been done to make this site usable for everyone, what has not been done yet, and what to do if something is in your way.
Arrange for Kaddish to be said
Kaddish and Mishnayos recited daily through the first year and every yahrzeit after — with the prices stated plainly.
Ask Rabbi Mendel
Have a question that needs a Rabbi?
Bar & Bat Mitzvah
Around twelve for a Bat Mitzvah and thirteen for a Bar Mitzvah, your child becomes a Jewish adult. Here is how it usually goes, and how to start.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah
What the milestone actually is, what your child will do on the day, how long the preparation really takes, and what a family arranges.
Building a Jewish home
A mezuzah on the door, a kitchen that works, a Friday night that arrives on purpose, a box for tzedakah and a shelf of books.
Building campaign
Together, from seeds to branches — let's build and grow our community's future.
Camp Gan Israel
A Jewish day camp in San Jose — trips, swimming, sports and art, in a place where every kind of Jewish family is at home. Campers call it Gan Izzy.
Camp: questions parents ask
The practical things, answered plainly.
Candle lighting for the year
Every Friday for the next twelve months in San Jose, with candle lighting and the time Shabbat ends — one page, made to be printed and put on a fridge.
Chabad Care
Food, shelter, medication, a visit, or someone to talk to. The line is answered around the clock through the week — and in an emergency, ring anyway.
Chabad of Silicon Valley
A Jewish home for every Jew in Silicon Valley. Services, Hebrew School, preschool, camp and community on Almaden Expressway in San Jose — no membership, no tickets.
Chanukah
Eight nights of light, starting with one candle in the window.
Chanukah: how to light, and what actually happened
The order of the candles, where the menorah goes, the words to say — and the history underneath a story most people know a slightly wrong version of.
Chevra Kadisha — the Jewish Burial Society
Taharah, shmirah, a rabbi, a plot and a minyan — arranged by one call, at any hour, for every Jew in the Bay Area.
Classes & study groups
What is running, when, and where. Every class is free and none of them assumes you know anything.
Community & holiday dinners
Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot in the Sukkah, and community dinners through the year — here at the Chabad House, with a seat you reserve for a named date.
Community Passover Seder
Celebrate your freedom with family, friends, and community — at a table where you'll feel right at home.
Contact us
Phone, email, the address on Almaden Expressway, and a message form that reaches a person.
Conversion
What the process actually involves, why Judaism does not go looking for converts, how long it really takes, and what a beis din is for.
Cremation or burial
Most families face this question at the worst possible moment, with very little time. If that's where you are right now, please call us before you read anything else: .
CTeen
Hey Jewish teens — flex your Jewish pride.
CTeen Israel trip
A trip to Israel for Jewish teens, run with Bay Area JYN and CTeen NorCal.
Dedicate a family brick
A legacy dedication in honor or in memory of a loved one, set into the new community center.
Dedication opportunities
Partner with us in this historic effort and ensure that our center for Jewish life can be a home for community building, Jewish learning, spirituality and celebrations.
Donate
Give once or monthly, to the fund of your choice, by card. Every gift gets a receipt, and nothing on this site charges a fee to speak to a person.
Elul & Selichot
The month before Rosh Hashanah — the shofar every morning, Selichot, kever avot, and this year’s dates.
Embeddable widget — this week at Chabad
A small page with candle lighting, Havdalah and today’s Hebrew date, meant to sit inside an iframe on somebody else’s site.
Employer matching gifts
Most of the big employers in this valley will match what their staff give to charity, often dollar for dollar. Search your company and get the tax ID to paste into their portal.
Every page on this site
Every public page, in one list, A to Z — for scanning rather than asking.
Every way to give
Card, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, check, stock, a donor-advised fund, an IRA distribution or a bequest — with the exact details for each, and what each one costs in fees.
For developers — the open zmanim API
Candle lighting and the full day’s zmanim for San Jose as JSON, free and with no key. Computed to Chabad.org’s own definitions rather than a library’s defaults.
Getting married
What a Jewish wedding is made of — the chuppah, the ketubah, the ring, the glass, and the week of celebration after it — and what a couple needs to arrange.
Giving
There is no membership fee here and no ticket at the door. What keeps this place running is people in the community choosing to pay for it.
Having a baby
Mazal tov. What happens Jewishly in the first weeks — the bris on the eighth day, the naming of a daughter, pidyon haben at thirty-one days — and who to call for each.
Having your scrolls checked
Rabbi Levi Potash in Redwood City checks mezuzah and tefillin scrolls. Who to call, why it is done, and what to expect while they are away.
Hebrew after-school
There is no Chabad after-school program in San Jose. The nearest is Hebrew Afterschool in Santa Clara — pickup from public school through to 6pm, TK through 5th grade, $895 a month.
Hebrew School
Imagine a Hebrew School where kids don't want to miss a day — where they come in with a smile and leave humming a Hebrew song.
Hebrew School info
When it runs, how classes are grouped, what it costs, who teaches, and what the children actually learn.
High Holidays at Chabad
During the High Holidays, the doors to heaven are open to all — so are ours.
Homework
This week's assignment isn't posted online yet. If your child needs this week's homework, the fastest way is to call or text 408-910-2034 — we'll have the answer in a minute.
Jewish businesses
People in our community who do this for a living — trades, realtors, caterers, photographers, movers and more, around San Jose and the South Bay.
Jewish cemeteries in the Bay Area
Ten Jewish cemeteries from San Jose to Colma — addresses, phone numbers, and what a plot runs to.
Jewish funeral homes & mortuaries
The mortuaries the Chevra Kadisha works with, what each charges, and how quickly each can get to a burial.
Jewish holidays
Every holiday we mark, what it is, and when it falls this year. Dates on these pages come from the Hebrew calendar, so they are always the current year's.
Jewish preschool
There is no Chabad preschool in San Jose. There are two nearby — Gan Torah in Mountain View and Gan Preschool — with ages, hours, day options, tuition and how to reach each of them.
Jewish Silicon Valley
Where to find a minyan, kosher food, a mikvah, a school and a community — across the whole valley, not just here.
Join the Chevra Kadisha
What the taharah and the shmirah actually involve, what is asked of you, and how to say yes.
Kaddish & mourning
Support for saying Kaddish, sitting shiva, and observing a yahrzeit.
Kosher in Silicon Valley
Where to shop, how to read a label, and who to ask when a particular product has you stuck.
Lag Baomer
A day outdoors: bonfire, barbecue and games for the whole family.
Lag BaOmer, and the Omer it interrupts
Forty-nine days counted one at a time, kept as a mourning period for reasons the Talmud states bluntly — and one day in the middle with bonfires on it.
Lifecycles
A baby, a Bar Mitzvah, a wedding, a death, a year of mourning — what happens Jewishly at each, and who to call. No membership required; every Jew is a member.
Local Chabad centers
There are more than 50 Chabad centers across the Bay Area. Find one near you — or wherever you're traveling next.
Lulav & etrog
Order your own set of the four kinds for Sukkot.
Maaser calculator
Work out a tenth (or up to a fifth) of what you took in — the custom of maaser kesafim.
Matzah
Handmade shmurah matzah for your Seder — and, for the kids, a chance to bake their own.
Meet the Rabbi or Rebbetzin
Half an hour, about anything. Choose who, then choose a time that suits you — in person at the shul, or by phone.
Meet the team
Rabbi Mendel and Mussi Weinfeld, Rabbi Noach Vogel, and Luba and Baruch Perlov — the people you will actually meet here.
Mezuzah
If you need help getting a new mezuzah, or having the ones you already have checked, we'll be happy to assist you with that.
Our partners
This building was bought by more than two and a half thousand people. Every name from the 2022 purchase, and the families who dedicated a brick.
Our story & press
A fire, a rebuild, and a community that showed up. Here is what was written about us, and where the new building stands.
Passover
The story of the Exodus, told again at your own table — Seders, shmurah matzah, selling chametz, and Moshiach's Dinner as the holiday closes.
Passover takeout
Fresh, kosher-for-Passover meals, picked up in San Jose.
Passover: preparing your home
What chametz is, what genuinely has to go, how a kitchen gets turned over, and the search by candlelight the night before.
Photo albums
Menorah lightings at the lake, matzah covered in flour, a whole community in costume. Here is what we've photographed.
Planned giving
Leave a lasting legacy to the Jewish people — by naming Chabad in your will or estate plan.
Planning a Jewish burial in advance
The seven things worth settling now, so your family does not have to decide them in the first hours of grief.
Prayer request
Submit a name to be remembered in prayer, for healing or in memory. This goes directly to the Rabbi.
Privacy policy
What we collect, what we do not, and what we do with it.
Purim
The Megillah, a costume, and a meal that runs long.
Purim: the four mitzvot of the day
A scroll read twice, food sent to a friend, money given to two strangers, and a meal that runs long.
Pushka history
The coins tapped in on this phone, and the gifts made from a pushka.
Pushka reminders
A nudge on this phone before candle lighting, or to keep a tzedakah streak going.
Pushka settings
The goal the pushka fills toward, your quick-add amounts, sounds, and the pushkas on your account.
Register for camp
All of your children in one form, with their health details, emergency contacts and who may collect them. Those answers are encrypted and deleted once the season is over.
Register for Hebrew School
What the registration form asks for — each child, their health details, emergency contacts and who may collect them — and what becomes of those answers afterwards.
Rent the Chabad Hall
A beautiful space for your simcha, from an intimate gathering to a 300-person celebration.
Rosh Chodesh & the Jewish month
Why the calendar follows the moon, how it is kept from drifting out of the seasons, and what happens on the first of the month.
Rosh Hashanah
Start the Jewish new year inspired, with meaningful prayer and a table full of family.
Rosh Hashanah: a guide for anyone
What happens, what the shofar is for, why there are apples on the table, and what it is actually like to walk into a service you have never been to.
Russian-speaking community
Jewish life in San Jose for people who grew up speaking Russian — classes, dinners, concerts, walks, and a library, led by Luba and Baruch Perlov.
Segulot & prayers
What is widely said and done around giving tzedakah, and where a specific text belongs.
Selling your chametz
Chabad arranges the sale of your chametz before Passover, free of charge.
Services schedule
When services are, how long they run, and what to expect if you have never been. Hebrew with English alongside, and nobody is asked to read out loud.
Setting roots in San Jose
A home that seats fifty — how the community bought the Weinfelds a house that could hold it, and the 295 people who paid for it.
Shabbat & holiday times
This week's candle lighting and when Shabbat ends, and every zman of the day — computed for San Jose to chabad.org's own method rather than typed in by hand.
Shabbat dinner at the Rabbi’s table
Friday night dinner at the Rabbi’s home, every week of the year. Free, open to anyone — pick a Shabbat and we confirm by email.
Shabbat hospitality
A Friday night table, and someone expecting you at it. If you don't know a soul in San Jose, this is the page to use.
Shabbat: a practical guide
Candle lighting, the three meals, what is and is not done — and a realistic way to begin if you never have.
Shavuot
Hear the Ten Commandments and relive the Sinai experience.
Shavuot: the night, the dairy, the mountain
A festival with no date of its own, a night nobody sleeps through, and ten sentences read out loud with the whole community in the room.
Shiva
The seven days after a burial: what they are for, what a shiva house is like, and — if you are the one visiting — what to say when you get there.
Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
The holiday of joy — dancing for all ages, and a little l’chaim.
Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah, explained
Two days that get spoken of as one — Yizkor and the prayer for rain, and then a night of carrying Torah scrolls in circles.
Shofar Tashlich
Hearing the shofar, and Tashlich at Almaden Lake.
Sponsor a Kiddush
Mark an occasion, or remember someone, by feeding the community on Shabbat morning.
Sponsor something
Put your family’s name on a Kiddush, a letter in a Sefer Torah, a brick in the building or a month of everything the Shul does — in honor of a simcha or in memory of somebody.
Sponsor the build
We're turning a blank slate of a building into a warm and welcoming Jewish home, well-equipped for every occasion. Each phase is paid for by the people who use it.
Starting later
For anyone who never had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or who is finding their way back to Jewish practice as an adult. There is nothing to make up for.
Sukkot
Warm, joyful services and meals in the sukkah.
Sukkot: building it, eating in it, holding the four species
What makes a sukkah kosher, what each of the four species is and how they are held, Ushpizin, and what Hoshana Rabbah is.
Synagogue
A vibrant place where Jews of all walks of life — beginners and advanced, thinkers and doers, young and old — come together as one to study, to pray, to rejoice, and to grow.
Tefillin
Tefillin is an incredibly powerful mitzvah. The experience of putting on tefillin has changed many people's lives.
Tell us about your bequest
A short declaration if you have named Chabad in your will, so we know and can thank you.
Terms of use
Donations, bookings, registrations and refunds — in plain English rather than boilerplate.
That giving link did not open
The link may have expired, or it may have been broken by your email program. Ask for a new one on the manage your giving page.
The Chai Club
A small amount every month, from many families, is what actually keeps the lights on — steadier than any single gift, and easier to give.
The eruv
What an eruv is, what it changes on Shabbat, and how to find out where things actually stand this week.
The High Holiday appeal
Nobody is charged for a seat here and nobody ever will be — which means these few weeks decide what the year can hold.
The Jewish fast days
The four minor fasts — Gedaliah, Asara B’Tevet, the Fast of Esther and Shiva Asar B’Tammuz — with this year’s dates, what each one marks, and, first, who should not be fasting.
The Rebbe
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory — who he was, what he asked of people, and why there is a Chabad House in San Jose because of him.
The Seder, step by step
Fifteen stages, in a fixed order. What each one is doing, and how to lead an evening for people who have never done this.
The weekly email
Candle lighting times, the parsha, and what is on this week. One email a week, and one click to stop.
The year of mourning
What comes after the seven days: thirty days, eleven months of Kaddish, the stone, and then a date that returns every year.
This week’s Shabbat card
This week's candle lighting and the time Shabbat ends, as a picture you can send to a WhatsApp group in one tap — and the whole year on one page for the fridge.
Tisha B’Av and the Three Weeks
Three weeks that narrow into nine days that narrow into one. What is being mourned, what the practices are, and why it is still kept.
Torah
Every Jew is a member here, and we do not charge a membership fee. That goes for learning too — walk in.
Visit the sukkah
Sit under the stars for a week. Our sukkah is open to everyone — bring the kids, bring a friend, or just come.
Visitors info
Visiting San Jose? Everything you need — kosher food, a minyan, a mikvah — in one place.
Volunteering
A Chabad House runs on people who turn up. Challah that somebody baked, a lift that somebody drove, chairs that somebody stacked at eleven at night.
What a traditional Jewish funeral involves
Taharah, tachrichim, a plain wooden aron, shmirah, burial without delay — and what is deliberately left out.
What’s on — the community calendar
What is coming up next, the calendar month by month, and what comes around every year — Hebrew School, classes, youth, services and community events, laid over the Jewish year.
When are the Jewish holidays?
Every festival for the year ahead with the date it falls on, and the evening each one begins — because they all start the night before.
When someone dies
What to do in the first hours, what not to agree to yet, and what happens next. Call 408-910-2034 at any hour.
Winter camp
Two weeks of camp over the December school break, for families who would rather not spend the holidays working out what to do with the days.
Women at Chabad — Mussi Weinfeld
Mussi Weinfeld will make half an hour for you about anything at all. Torah & Tea, the Rosh Chodesh Society and baking together are the things she runs.
Write a letter
For generations, people have written to the Rebbe — for a blessing, for guidance, or simply to say thank you. That practice continues today.
Writing a Sefer Torah
A Torah scroll is 304,805 letters written by hand over about a year, and the last of the 613 commandments is that every Jew have one written. What can be dedicated, and what happens the day a new scroll is brought home.
Yahrzeit
The anniversary of a death, kept on the Hebrew calendar — which is why it falls on a different day each year, and why it is easy to lose track of.
Yizkor
Have a prayer said for your loved ones.
Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement — the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Yom Kippur: the whole day, explained
From the meal before it starts to the shofar that ends it — including, first and at length, who should not be fasting at all.
Your first time at a service
What actually happens on Shabbat morning — what to wear, when to arrive, whether anyone will ask you to read, and what to do if you get lost.
Your giving
Change your card, change the amount, or stop a monthly gift. No explanation needed, and no hard feelings either way.
Your Hebrew birthday
Everyone has one and most people have never been told theirs. Put in the date you were born and we will work out the Hebrew date, when it next comes round, and what the day is for.
Your pushka
A tzedaka box you carry with you: tap in a coin whenever you can, keep a weekday streak going, and empty it into a real gift whenever you are ready.