Sharsheret — Free Peer Support for Jewish Women with Cancer
Sharsheret is a national nonprofit providing free personalized support, education, and peer community for Jewish women and their families facing breast and ovarian cancer. Founded in 2001 — Sharsheret means chain in Hebrew — the organization connects newly diagnosed and at-risk women one-on-one with trained volunteer peer supporters who share similar diagnoses, ages, family situations, and treatment paths. Sharsheret also serves family members, supports women at high genetic risk (BRCA-positive), and provides culturally specific resources for the Jewish community.
What to Expect
Sharsheret’s Peer Support Network is the heart of the program: a network of trained volunteers — themselves Jewish women who have been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer or who carry a BRCA mutation — matched 1-on-1 with newly diagnosed or at-risk women. Matches are made carefully based on age, family situation, diagnosis stage, treatment plan, and other factors that shape what a woman needs at her particular moment. Sharsheret also runs group support programs, monthly virtual support meetings, educational webinars, free care packages for women in active treatment, and culturally specific programming that honors Jewish observance, ritual, and family.
Who This Group Is For
Sharsheret serves Jewish women of all denominations and backgrounds facing breast or ovarian cancer — at diagnosis, in active treatment, in survivorship, and at the end of life — plus the family members, partners, and friends walking with them. Women at increased genetic risk (BRCA1/BRCA2 positive) are also part of the constituency, particularly because Ashkenazi Jewish heritage carries elevated BRCA prevalence. Sharsheret welcomes women across the spectrum of Jewish identity and practice, and ensures programming and peer matches respect each woman’s particular faith and family context.
Why Peer Support Works
Cancer is isolating in any community, and Jewish women describe specific dimensions — navigating treatment alongside Jewish holidays, talking with children, integrating ritual into care, and processing the particular grief and resilience that runs through Jewish history. A peer match with another Jewish woman who has walked the same road gives newly diagnosed women a steady source of practical wisdom and unshakable understanding. Many Sharsheret matches become long-term friendships.
How to Join
All Sharsheret services are free. Visit sharsheret.org to request a Peer Support Network match, browse programs and educational resources, sign up for support groups, and learn about Sharsheret’s free care packages. The organization can also be reached by phone at 1-866-474-2774. Sharsheret welcomes women anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.