About Acorn Shabbat
Acorn Shabbat is a nature-based community for kids and grownups who share values of social justice and Palestinian liberation. We are rooted in Jewish culture, but all are welcome!
We offer a biweekly family program year-round in the redwoods of Oakland, open holiday celebrations for kids and families, a day camp, and (coming in 2027) an overnight camp!
You can learn more about our values and our program here.
We are affiliated with the Jewish Diaspora Movement and Simchat Diaspora.
In 5787/2026-7, we’re embarking on A Year of Foods! Join us for a full year of wild foraging, campfire cooking, and exploring what food can teach us about culture, natural cycles, memory, solidarity, and resistance!
“I feel so grateful that my kid now thinks that building forts, making bows and arrows out of sticks, identifying Bay Area trees, singing Yiddish songs, and talking about justice with 2-60 year olds are all ways to celebrate Shabbat!” – Arielle, Acorn Shabbat participant
Our Values
Social justice: We believe in justice and equality for all human beings. We support a ceasefire in Gaza and human rights, justice, and liberation for Palestinians. We seek to raise our children in the tradition of Jewish socialists, unionists, feminists, and radicals. We are here for the fight against fascism in all its forms.
Anti-racism: We actively resist racism. We stand with our neighbors facing deportations and police violence, and we resist anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia in our schools and communities. We participate in multiracial movements in solidarity with Palestinians. We seek to build a space that is welcoming for Jews and non-Jews of different races, backgrounds, and cultures, and to challenge racism within Jewish communities.
Inclusion: One-sixteenth Jewish? Jewish but hate religion? Not Jewish at all but think this sounds cool? You are welcome here. There is no prerequisite. Some of us come in with a strong connection to Jewish culture or ritual, others don’t. Some of us value the idea of connecting to spirit or the divine, others don’t find meaning in those words but love nature, community, and creative ritual. We value secular traditions as well as spiritual ones.
Creating together: Our Jewish institutions have let us down by supporting militarism and oppression. It is up to us to rebuild a culture of liberation in our families and communities. We are all learning and co-creating our culture together. Everyone in our community is welcome to contribute ideas, ask questions, research history and traditions, and share visions.
Diasporism: We seek to embody the idea of “doikayt,” or “hereness.” We do not see our true home as a Jews-only state halfway around the world. We ground ourselves in the communities where we live, building liberation movements alongside our neighbors of all backgrounds, and creating direct connection with our local ecosystems.
Kindness & cooperation: We celebrate what is unique and beautiful in every child (and every adult!). We try to create an environment where everyone feels accepted and loved just as they are. We offer creative, multi-modal activities that can work for different abilities and learning styles, and we support children in being actively kind and inclusive to each other and working out conflicts respectfully. We discourage competitive activities or ones with set outcomes, and welcome the alchemy of creative play!
Our Approach to Jewish Learning
Ritual: we don’t offer formal religious services, but many of our sessions include creative, kid-friendly, embodied, and earth-based ritual practices. We have created and shaken our own native plant lulavim to summon the rains; baked matzoh over an open fire while discussing what it means to flee home seeking safety; mixed potions to celebrate the trees’ birthday on Tu B’Shvat; and printed with apples and olive branches to wish for a sweet new year with freedom for Palestinian olive farmers.
Some of our participants also belong to synagogues and send their children to Hebrew school. Others have no Jewish practice outside Acorn Shabbat.
We begin every session with three minutes of quiet, looking up at the redwoods. We seek to use the beautiful natural environment to connect with ourselves, each other, the trees, and ruach ha’olam (the spirit of the world).
Cultural learning: we learn and teach about Jewish languages, music, foods, celebrations, and stories from across the diaspora. We encourage participants to investigate their own families’ traditions, many of which have been lost through assimilation. We also value learning about the cultures and traditions of Palestinians and other peoples of the Levant, and about indigenous practices on the land we live on.
Social justice learning: we educate ourselves and each other about the long history of Jewish struggle for justice and liberation for all people. We draw inspiration from these traditions as we reimagine them for our own very uncertain times.
Co-creation: We believe there is great value in connecting our kids (and ourselves!) with their ancestral history, songs, languages, stories, spiritual practices, and revolutionary traditions. But our role is not just to transmit a set body of knowledge. We offer a taste of the many creative ways people engage in Jewish ritual and culture today, and the opportunity to be part of that ongoing conversation. Participants can choose what feels meaningful to them, what pieces they want to integrate into their lives, and how they want to co-create a Jewish future.
