“Oh no, not again.

I was sitting in synagogue when an all-too-familiar feeling washed over me. I felt the tears stinging my eyes, the urge to ugly blubber rising to the surface.

I cannot make a spectacle of myself in shul again. Hold it together, Rachel.

But how could I? The rabbi was giving his pre-Yizkor sermon, the speech given before the traditional communal prayer to memorialize deceased family members.

You’re a link in a chain,” he repeated throughout his speech, reminding us all of the very Jewish idea that we must remember the past in order to build a better future. We memorialize those lost so we can teach our children the lessons previous generations taught us, continuing the chain of our peoplehood.

Except I will never be a link in a chain...”

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Beautiful piece by our board member, Rachel Honeyman

Link to the full article is in our stories and our bio

Childless not by choice | infertility | IVF | miscarriage | Jewish woman

@shoshanastavsky, who has gone through her own fertility journey and a breast cancer survivor, writes about the feelings that are sitting in all of our hearts and gives meaning to the pain. Thank you. 💔❤️💔 “Grief looks like seeing the bottom of a pint of Ben & Jerrys in one sitting.”

#fertility #infertility #infertilitysupport #fertilityjourney #support #groups #group #supportgroup #loss #pain #grief #surrogacy #miscarriage #tfmr #trimester #pregnant #pregnancy #pregnancyloss #fertilityawareness #grieving #heartbreak #heartbreaking #grieving #announcement #duedate #motherhood #parenthood #judaism #jewish

You don’t have to justify your grief.
Not to others. Not to yourself.

There’s no grief “criteria” you need to meet.
No timeline. No rulebook. No “right” way.

Whether it was your first loss or your fifth…
Whether you cried for days or stayed numb…
Whether anyone else knew or understood—
your grief is real.

We’re here to honor it. To hold it. To hold you.

#fertility#infertility#infertilitysupport#fertilityjourney#support#groups#group#supportgroup#loss#pain#grief#surrogacy#miscarriage#tfmr#trimester#pregnant#pregnancy#pregnancyloss#fertilityawareness#grieving#heartbreak#heartbreaking#grieving#announcement#duedate#motherhood#parenthood#judaism#jewish

This time of mourning mirrors what so many of us carry privately: the emptiness, the waiting, the longing, the loss.

You’re not alone in the silence. You’re not forgotten in the grief.

#fertility #infertility #infertilitysupport #fertilityjourney #support #groups #group #supportgroup #loss #pain #grief #surrogacy #miscarriage #tfmr #trimester #pregnant #pregnancy #pregnancyloss #fertilityawareness #grieving #heartbreak #heartbreaking #grieving #announcement #duedate #motherhood #parenthood #judaism #jewish #holiday

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

#shabbatshalom #shabbat #goodshabbos #friday #fridayfeels #infertility #fertility #quote #acknowledge #acknowledgment

Six times I hoped. Six times I grieved.

So when the Jewish calendar asks us to mourn destruction - I don’t need a fast day to remember what’s missing.

Fertility grief during the Three Weeks isn’t just symbolic.

It’s personal.

It’s raw.