Our school was established in 1963, when a handful of families, led by Rabbi Saul White of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, were looking to create a Jewish community day school. Brandeis opened with a total of 34 children in kindergarten and first grade.
In 1973, Brandeis merged with the Hillel School to become Brandeis Hillel Day School, and in 1983, BHDS moved to its present location on Brotherhood Way, which houses its San Francisco campus and its administrative offices. Sharing space on Brotherhood Way with BHDS is the JCC Brotherhood Way Preschool founded in 1966. It is a fully licensed program of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
In 1978, BHDS opened a second campus in San Rafael, Marin County. BHDS Marin is part of the Lonee C. Hoytt Community Center Campus, sharing space with the Marin JCC and Congregation Rodef Sholom.
In 1996, with the assistance of the Jewish Community Federation, BHDS purchased the property at the San Francisco campus that was formerly owned by the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. In 2002, Brandeis embarked on a major expansion, creating the new building that we currently call the mercaz. This building houses the kindergarten through third grade classrooms, the administrative offices, the library, the beit midrash, and other communal meeting spaces. Since then, we have also renovated other buildings on the campus.
Today, Brandeis Hillel Day School continues to serve the Jewish community of the San Francisco Bay Area by providing our 600 students in grades K-8 with an outstanding academic program in general and Judaic Studies within a dynamic and diverse Jewish cultural environment.