When Ally Frank began her internship with JCFS Chicago’s Jewish Community Services program last fall, she didn’t know what to expect. The internship would focus on community social work and outreach—areas that differed from both her prior experiences and her long-term career goals, which centered on micro and clinical practice.

The JCFS Chicago internship program may not be widely known, but its benefits are far-reaching—strengthening the agency’s programs while providing students with valuable professional experience.

There is a particular kind of weight that settles in during prolonged uncertainty. It does not always come from a single loss. Grief does not only follow death. It can also arise from what feels fragile, unresolved, or uncertain.

Author, speaker, advocate, lawyer, and clinician Jason B. Rosenthal recently spoke to an audience of more than 100 people at a JCFS program hosted by Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Deerfield and generously sponsored by the Lauri S. Bauer Foundation for Sudden Loss. Drawing from his own experience with loss and healing, Jason offered powerful lessons about love, grief, and resilience.

JCFS Chicago expanded its unique Synagogue Community Partnership (SCP) to include 13 synagogues when it recently added two northwest suburban congregations (with one more in the works). Grant funding helps to underwrite a liaison from JCFS’ Jewish Community Services to work with the synagogues’ clergy, staff and congregants, as well help with programming.

Grief can be incredibly lonely. But something powerful happens when you’re in a room with others who truly get it. That’s what I’ve seen during my time as an intern at JCFS Chicago: the power of connection in grief support groups.

Grieving the loss of a close loved one is a profound and overwhelming experience. For young adults in their 20s and 30s, this journey can be especially disorienting.

When Larry’s wife Ardis died in late 2022, people suggested he try grief support...

“What I really appreciate about this group is that I get some insights and I can talk about my loss in a way that other people in the room understand,” Larry said

Death is a normal part of life. We all face it ourselves, and we all lose people about whom we care. But it is helpful to know how it affects us, as well as the helpful tools Jewish tradition in its wisdom has developed to guide us through these tough times.

In grief work, we often devote considerable time to discussing death, the loss of a beloved family member or a dear friend. But what about non-death losses? How does one grieve something that is undefined and intangible?