Jesse Jacobs was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1922 and grew up in Brooklyn. He studied speech therapy at Brooklyn College, when during his senior year in 1943, he was drafted in the army. After the war's end, Jacobs pursued an acting career, working as Oscar Brand's assistant, teaching drama at the New Jersey College for Women, and joining the Men's Acting Company at Vassar. In 1952 with funding from the GI Bill, Jacobs earned a master's degree in drama at Columbia University. Across the 1950s Jacobs had minor roles in numerous New York theater productions, before moving to California in 1960 where he worked as a character actor in television.

In July 1972, Jacobs joined the recently formed Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), the world’s first synagogue for gay and lesbian Jews. Jacobs helped write some the congregation's first services and served for several years as the ritual chair, leading the majority of the services. In the late 1970s at a time when most temples still used male language for God, Jacobs helped created the first prayer book with gender-neutral language.

In 1975 Jacobs took his first job as a bookkeeper, an occupation that would become his primary profession for the next 20 plus years. In 1978 he became president of the League of Voters for Equal Rights (LOVER), a group dedicated to registering LGBT people to combat Proposition 6, also known as the Brigg's Initiative. Jacobs joined the board of directors at ONE Incorporated in 1981 where he served as president for six of the next fourteen years. When ONE joined with the International Gay & Lesbian Archives in 1994, Jacobs remained on the board and also became treasurer at the affiliated organization, the Institute for the Study of Human Resources (ISHR). Jacobs remained active in both organizations until his death in 1998.

Edited from Tracy Moore's article "Jesse Jacobs: An Original BCC Member." G''vanim, v.45, no.5 (January 1997).