Category Archives: Straight from the Heart by Raechel Hammer

February 21, 2024 Jewish tradition teaches that all humans are created B’Tselem Elokhim–in the image of G-d. This inherently teaches us that regardless of our differences, each one of us contains [...]

January 24, 2024 “Man is a tree of the field.”–Deuteronomy 20:19 As Tu B’Shevat approaches, I find myself examining the world around me. The traditional celebration of this holiday harkens [...]

December 27, 2023 “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” Rabbi Hillel’s [...]

November 29, 2023 As I think about the events of the last several months, I am quite speechless. The emotions that we all feel—anger, sadness, pain, frustration, fear—sometimes are all [...]

November 1, 2023 If you are anything like me, you are still reeling from the vicious attacks upon our brothers and sisters in Israel last month. Ongoing escalations in the [...]

October 4, 2023 It is a sad fact that millions of people across the country cannot consider home a safe haven. So many people suffer in silence behind the closed [...]

September 6 2023 The 20th-century American psychologist Abraham Maslow famously said, “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” Over [...]

August 9, 2023 The long, lazy days of summer will soon be coming to an end, which means the much-anticipated (and sometimes dreaded!) back-to-school season is right around the corner. [...]

July 12, 2023 Helen Keller famously said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” When thinking about an individual’s success and how we work to [...]

June 14, 2023 I recently received a letter from Denise, a client of our JFCS Betsy & Peter Fischer Food Pantry, that feel compelled to share with you: “I would [...]