News & Impact

When Manny Kagan and his family stepped off the plane to start their new life in the United States, he knew from his first day in San Francisco that he was in a town like no other. In the years that have followed Manny has become a successful businessman, a well-loved philanthropist, and a talented photographer. A long-time member of JFCS’ Emigre Committee, Manny has been an instrumental supporter and voice for the thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who were helped by JFCS to start new lives in California over the past forty years. A Life Purpose… Read More

J Weekly By Carly Nairn While most high school students wouldn’t choose to spend their weekends inside a classroom, Piedmont High School senior Danny DeBare did. The Jewish teen, along with hundreds of his peers, gathered last Sunday at a San Francisco high school to bring Jewish history into focus. “Participation is everything to get the full effect of learning the history,” said DeBare. Now in its 15th year, the Day of Learning, organized by the JFCS Holocaust Center, brought together Holocaust survivors in the Bay Area and 750 students and educators from schools in the region — from… Read More

A Legacy of Remembrance and Resilience To an observer, Zoe Goldfarb (center) and her peers look like any other group of young professionals when they get together—telling stories, sharing a meal, and catching up on each other’s lives. But this group, called 3gSF, has something very important in common. They call themselves “3Gs”—as in third generation—and they are all grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Living Links between Holocaust Survivors and Future Generations “3G is the bridge generation,” says Morgan Blum Schneider, Director of Education at the JFCS Holocaust Center, noting that they are the ones with personal relationships with both… Read More

A few years ago Beverly* knew she was in trouble but didn’t know where to turn. Surgery left her with excruciating stomach and joint pain, making it difficult to walk. Beverly had to leave her part-time job due to her disability and was behind on her rent. One day she returned home to find a notice in her mail: her rent for her Peninsula apartment was going up $200 a month—an astronomical amount on her small fixed income. Feeling despondent, she talked to a friend who said, “Have you ever thought about calling JFCS?” “I never considered myself the type… Read More

While Judaism offers beautiful lifecycle traditions and rituals for those who are grieving, Jewish customs for pregnancy and infant loss are only now catching up with modern times. Up to one in four women in the U.S. will experience at least one miscarriage, and many others will experience a stillbirth or infertility at some point. The rates are even higher in the Bay Area where many delay starting a family until later in life. When this kind of devastating loss occurs, women—as well as their partners, families, and friends—have historically been left without a clear Jewish path for rituals, support,… Read More

The Mercury News By Jacqueline Lee It was her mother’s intuition that spared Denise Elbert from the gas chambers during the Jewish Holocaust in World War II. Elbert was 9 months old in 1942 when she boarded a train headed for Sobibor with her mom and dad. Young Jewish Slovakian families, like the Elberts, had been told they were needed to help build a major German city, and locals lined the platform to see them off. When Elbert’s mother spotted a good childhood friend, she decided to ask the friend to care for her daughter until the couple got settled… Read More