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.

The JCFS Chicago Jewish Chaplaincy program is expanding its services to include two area hospices and Misericordia, while also growing its Russian-speaking Jewish Chaplaincy program. 

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.

While spiritual care, or chaplaincy, is an important factor in both physical and mental health care, our work is not well known in the Jewish community.

A unique offering to JCFS Chicago’s chaplaincy program is a Russian Jewish chaplain who serves the Russian faction of the Jewish community and provides something they may not have experienced before: spirituality.

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.

In mid-November, my mother fractured her shoulder from a fall following a stroke. After a short hospitalization, she was sent to a rehab facility

The JCFS chaplaincy program develops its services based on this cultural, religious, historical, geographical, and emotional context within the Russian-speaking Jewish community.

JCFS Chicago’s chaplaincy program is a national leader in the emerging field of Jewish community chaplaincy. JCFS’s chaplaincy serves anyone in the Chicago area Jewish community who might benefit from the services.