News & Impact

For Maria Ramos-Chertok and her husband, Keith, one of the best ways of imbuing their sons with Jewish values is by having them help create, assemble, and deliver bags of Hanukkah treats to JFCS clients in need . The Chertok boys—Michael, 10, and Joshua, 12—have been doing so for at least five years. “It is an important part of tikkun olam,” Maria says. “They have had some remarkable experiences meeting the clients who are receiving the Hanukkah bags from us.” The Ramos-Chertok family and many others are part of JFCS’ efforts to reach out to the thousands of clients and… Read More

Seniors At Home, the senior care division of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, has today announced the expansion of its services with the opening of a new Center for Dementia Care. “The population of seniors in the Bay Area who suffer from dementia-related conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, is growing dramatically,” says Traci Dobronravova, MSW, Associate Director of Seniors At Home. “As one of the leaders in senior care in the Bay Area, we are pleased to be able to meet the requests of our clients by starting a new program that provides the specialized support needed for dementia care.”… Read More

The wooden barracks, stretching off into seeming infinity as the gaps between them are shrouded in a thick white fog, the layers of barbed wire fence with pencil-trunked trees and green grass just beyond the environs of the camp. The atmosphere here is just as I’d seen it in the recurring bad dreams I’d had when I first was taught about Auschwitz-Birkena through viewings of the film Night and Fog. Though I understand that this documentary isn’t used any more, it was the educational tool in my generation; and as we enter the galleries with the grotesque piles of… Read More

On the bitterly freezing day when we were on the market in Karzimierz, Daniel pointed me to a table of souvenirs with a curious collectible set: This was a replica of a seal used in the Lodz ghetto.  The text reads: “Der Aeltester der Juden.  Litzmannstadt”  (The Chair of the Judenrat.  Lodz ghetto).   I’ve seen a lot of Polish tchatchkes in my time, but I found this collectible to be especially painful.  As I was wheeling myself away from the table, I reached a bump in the concrete path and had trouble going further.  One of the souvenir sellers, a… Read More

It is hard to know where to begin in writing about the experience of Shabbat in Poland. Since I had never been here before, I did not know what to expect; now that I am here, I see that this was just as well, because Poland is unlike any other place I have been, and any serious attempts to imagine it beforehand would have in any case been futile. The strange truth is that this place is, in many respects, the most Jewish place I’ve ever been. Jews have lived here continuously for eight or more centuries, and for much… Read More

The official start of the Legacy Tour began midday Friday, the 24th with a meet and greet of all the participants with introductions around including the introduction of Dariuysz Kyzniar, to be our tour guide during the entire time of schedule tour in Poland. He distributed earphones and receivers to each of us so that we could hear every tour leader quite well without having to stand close –much like the museum audio tours we have all used. Brilliant in conception and well executed. We will travel by the same quite comfortable, spacious and sleek big tour bus throughout our… Read More