Jacqueline Berman
Dec. 29, 1930-Aug. 29, 2016
Palo Alto, California

Jacqueline "Jackie" Berman died peacefully on August 29th, 2016, at her home in Palo Alto, CA. Jackie was born to Dora and Emanuel Kotkin in Los Angeles on December 29, 1930. Her mother was a schoolteacher in Watts, and her father ran a plastics factory, working hard through the Depression to give Jackie a comfortable childhood. As a child, Jackie enjoyed acting in the theatre and spending summers with family on their ranch in Montana. After graduating from Beverly Hills High, Jackie studied Political Science at the University of California-Berkeley, where she joined a sorority and met Uri Berman, a charismatic, eccentric and brilliant Zionist activist, with whom she fell in love. After marrying, Jackie and Uri contemplated making Aliyah, but due to health issues they decided to stay in the States and moved to Los Angeles where Jackie began working as a teacher. There, Jackie raised her two sons, Daniel and David, imbuing them with their senses of humor, Jewish identities and love of family. In 1970, the family moved to Palo Alto. Jackie decided to stop teaching, but motivated by her studies in political science and the injustices she witnessed as a woman, she became active in the League of Women Voters. She went on to join their board from 1971 to 1974, advocating for statewide policy issues. Jackie and Uri expanded their Jewish community in Palo Alto by joining Temple Beth Am, where Jackie actively attended services, Minyan and Torah study for over 40 years. In addition to her network of friends in her neighborhood, Beth Am became the foundation of Jackie’s local community. Combining her political activism with her dedication to the Jewish community, Jackie joined the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in 1982, first as South Bay Regional Director, then as Education Specialist. Through her work, she became aware of biased and inaccurate portrayals of Judaism and the Arab-Israeli conflict in textbooks adopted by public schools. Jackie decided to challenge this national issue by helping develop the Institute of Curriculum Services (ICS) at JCRC, to promote accurate instruction and instructional materials by working with textbook publishers, developing scholarly curricular resources and training teachers. Jackie said that alongside her family, ICS was her proudest accomplishment and that it represented her commitment to “a just civic society, a strong Jewish community and the well-being of the State of Israel.” She continued working for JCRC in some capacity until 2010 and remained an advisor to ICS until the very end. Jackie had a unique interest in and dedication to helping others. For decades she let diverse students and people with modest incomes live for reduced or free rent in her basement apartment. She actively gave time and funds to diverse charities, including taking a special interest in supporting and visiting a small Jewish community in Eastern Ukraine. Even as she got older, she visited friends less able to care for themselves, taking them shopping and helping them feel less alone. She would quote her father who said: "if you can help someone, you should." Jackie was deeply proud of her Jewish heritage, and passed this on to family through holiday traditions. Each Passover she would make the same dishes from the same recipes her mother used, serve them to family and friends on a table carved by her grandfather -- a woodworker from London’s East End -- and read from the same Haggadah she and her husband Uri received on their wedding day. She rejoiced in seeing her grandchildren grow up with Jewish identities, attending Hebrew school and summer camp and most recently watching her granddaughter Karina’s Bat Mitzvah over live telecast from Bethesda this past May. Until Jackie passed, she retained her wit, her enthusiasm for Judaism and her passion for family. In addition to her family, she wanted to express special gratitude to Rabbi Janet Marder, Doctor Irene Wu and caregiver Sia Kava for their help in her final weeks. She is survived by her children David, Celine, Daniel and Reiko; her grandchildren Charlie, Melanie and Karina; and extended family around the world.

Tags: teacher/educator, public service