Originally called the Jewish Board of Ministers and founded at the time of the Gold Rush, the Northern California Board of Rabbis (NCBOR) is arguably one of the oldest Jewish groups organized in Northern California. However, their IRS status was officially approved on February 24, 1982.
Responding to the needs of the times in the late sixties and seventies, the NCBOR responded to the needs of those in cults, Moonies, the Flower Children and other young people who were not affiliated by or served by synagogues or other existing Jewish organizations in the area. As a result of the success in this area, it was felt that a formal address and office would be an appropriate move for the Board.
Past events sponsored by the NCBOR have included TISHA B’AV observances and YOM YERUSHALAYIM celebrations. Through NCBOR resolutions, it was established that all Jewish community-wide meals be kosher and awareness has been raised of the need to make Jewish facilities more accessible to the disabled. In addition, the Board has also urged the abolition of the death penalty. A past project that the NCBOR took part in was to increase the number of organ donations within the Jewish community, on the basis of the MITZVAH of PIKUACH NEFESH.
On January 23, 1978, the first office was dedicated in a non-profit building at 944 Market Street, and subsequently at the Flood Building. In 1984, The NCBOR moved into the Jewish Community Federation Building until the Federation dropped funding in 2020.
In 2021, a group of Rabbis banded together and decided to restructure the Northern California Board of Rabbis as they felt it was a very important resource for both the individual rabbi and the Jewish community. They reached out to their colleagues and began to accept memberships in order to fundraise to hire a part-time Executive Director. Rabbi Jill Berkson Zimmerman was brought on Board and in early 2023, with the closing of the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, she began working with several Board members to write a grant to fund the creation of the San Francisco Hospital Jewish Chaplaincy Program. This program was graciously funded by the Mount Zion Health Fund and the Newhouse Fund of the Bay Area Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund to provide support for unaffiliated Jewish patients.