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?

Most of us in the Chicagoland Jewish community will gather for a Passover seder in a few weeks. This annual ritual often brings together different generations of family, friends, and sometimes new faces. This diversity can add to the richness of the experience.

At a time when the Israel-Hamas War has been dominating the concerns of much of our community, it presents us with some challenging moments. It behooves us to consider in advance if and how we might address the war at the seder table. Do we avoid discussion of the war altogether? Address it directly? Guide a discussion? Introduce themes of the war into the Passover rituals?

The sun is out, birds are chirping, flowers are in bloom and there is no doubt that summer is in full swing. When we are grieving, the outside world often feels inconsistent with what is happening inside, more often in the summer.

The JCFS Chicago Endowment Foundation helps ensure the continuity of essential life sustaining programs and caring services that JCFS Chicago provides. As an Agency of the Jewish Federation/Jewish United Fund (JUF), JCFS Chicago established the Endowment Foundation, in partnership with JUF, to meet the growing needs of our community. 

When Scott Bauer was looking for his own grief support, he recognized a need in the community for grief services focused on younger adults dealing with loss. Scott sees the growth and reach of the Bauer Foundation as not only a demonstration of the continued need for grief and loss services, but also a testament to the altruism within the community.

Our lives have been turned upside down during this pandemic in one way or another. As we try to make sense of all this, we may find an underlying theme: Loss. Perhaps we can use some of the rich Jewish tradition of mourning loss as a framework to look at and maybe understand what we are experiencing.