Updated Feb. 21
Before Rabbi Idit Solomon founded a fertility-focused nonprofit, she struggled for years to get pregnant. She had turned to in-vitro fertilization, which led to anguish and financial strain after multiple cycles. She also felt isolated from the Jewish community in her grief, she told J.
Solomon decided that if she ever became pregnant, she would pay it forward to other Jews facing similar hardships. After additional IVF attempts, Solomon received the news she’d longed for, and in 2012 she gave birth to twin girls. By that time, she was already working to create Hasidah, focused on helping hopeful parents-to-be dealing with fertility challenges.
For over a decade, the Berkeley-based nonprofit with the motto “build Jewish families” has distributed grants averaging $5,000 to $10,000 to individuals and couples to pay for IVF procedures. Solomon has also offered spiritual care and resources to destigmatize the topic of infertility, which can be hard for some people to discuss.
In September, though, Hasidah transitioned to a spend-down model, prioritizing IVF grants. Once the remaining $40,000 runs out, Solomon said in early February, the nonprofit will shut down.
(Courtesy)
Solomon, who serves as Hasidah’s CEO, said the decision to close the nonprofit followed an organizational analysis and was tied to a number of issues, including the fundraising landscape. She also noted that fertility-support options have expanded since Hasidah’s early days, with more organizations providing financial and other resources for fertility issues and with abundant information available online.
“A lot of pressure that we got was constantly about ‘expand, expand, expand,’” Solomon said. “But I think we’re just going to celebrate what we did, which was extraordinary.”
Solomon said Hasidah’s IVF grants resulted in the birth of almost 60 babies, served more than 1,000 clients and provided free information online, much of it Jewish-oriented, to countless others aspiring to become parents.
“Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:7) is considered the first commandment given by God and one of the most important. In Israel, the state fully funds fertility treatments for Israeli citizens up to age 45 with a limit of two children. Israel also has become a medical destination for treatments whose cost is prohibitive elsewhere.
IVF treatment is notoriously expensive. According to a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average cost for a single IVF cycle can range from $15,000 to $20,000 and sometimes exceed $30,000. Because many people must undergo multiple cycles, the financial strain accumulates rapidly. IVF treatment is often not covered by insurance. California is one of nearly two dozen states with laws for covering infertility treatments, but the terms vary widely.
Hasidah, which is Hebrew for “stork,” previously received funding from the Jewish Federation of the East Bay, which in 2019 became part of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, and from San Francisco’s Mount Zion Health Fund, among others. However, most of its budget, including the entirety of the IVF grant pool, came from individual donors, some of whom, like Solomon, had their own experiences with infertility.
“Our No. 1 donor type was a grateful patient … who’s been through it and then gives back,” she said. “We even had past recipients of our grants who would give back.”
Rebbetzin Meira Albert was one such recipient.
Although she and her husband, Rabbi Gershon Albert of Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland, were able to conceive their first child naturally, routine genetic testing during pregnancy revealed that she has a genetic mutation called Fragile X syndrome. This disorder causes a range of delays, including intellectual, behavioral and developmental issues. For Albert, it affects fertility.
“We were told that having my first child was lucky, or God,” she said.
The couple knew they wanted more children and would need help to conceive. They met with specialists, and she went through fertility treatments, hoping that a combination of science and faith would bring good news.
“Even though the doctor said it would take a miracle, we tried to retrieve my own eggs,” Albert said. “But it didn’t work. I didn’t get any eggs.”
By that point, the Alberts had exhausted their funds. Their family had already pitched in to cover some of the medical costs, and living on Meira’s social worker salary and Gershon’s rabbi salary left little disposable income for them to keep trying.
Fortunately, congregants at their Modern Orthodox synagogue connected them with Hasidah, and they were quickly approved for a grant. Because she had already successfully carried one child and undergone fertility treatments, Albert was a good candidate for IVF using an egg donor and her husband’s sperm.
For some reason, though, the transfer failed.
“That was quite devastating for me, because it was a lot to get to that point,” Albert recalled. She was ready to give up. “I wasn’t going to put my body through it anymore.”
She decided to try one final transfer, this time using two of the four remaining embryos to improve the odds of one sticking. Those two embryos developed into a healthy set of twins, a boy and a girl, who are now 6 years old. A few months after the twins were born, Albert discovered she was pregnant again — their “‘miracle’ baby against all odds.”
“It’s a testament of how much I was indebted to them and how much they helped me. I wanted to work for them and help other people through their struggles.” Rebbetzin Meira Albert
Albert was so grateful to Hasidah that she began working for the organization, leveraging her background in social work.
“It’s a testament of how much I was indebted to them and how much they helped me,” she said. “I wanted to work for them and help other people through their struggles.”
As other fertility-related nonprofits and financial aid programs sprang up over the years, Hasidah cited these new resources as alternatives or even additional sources of funding for IVF.
When Hebrew Free Loan in San Francisco started a fertility loan program around 2019, for example, HFL executive director Cindy Rogoway could tell early on that collaborating with Hasidah had potential.
“She has referred a lot of people to us over the years who took out loans,” Rogoway told J. “I’m a big believer in collaboration.… I think it’s all for the better good of the community, and this was a prime example of one that really worked beautifully. I was very sad to hear when Idit told me that it was time to close [Hasidah] down.”
Hebrew Free Loan makes 15 to 20 fertility-related loans per year, with around 40 loans currently outstanding, totaling over $500,000.
Even when Solomon could not offer financial support, she sought to help clients by combining her experience in pastoral care as a Reform rabbi with what she had learned during years of personal struggle.
“I was getting calls all the time for grants, and I would hear people asking very deep spiritual questions,” Solomon said. “I started offering that care and developed a framework over the years,” which she then shared with other rabbis to use.
Hasidah’s website houses Jewish approaches to infertility, such as a tashlich ritual for fertility around the High Holidays, a blessing for a newborn after infertility or a previous pregnancy loss, and a prayer before starting IVF. For clergy, Solomon has developed written materials to reference when guiding congregants dealing with infertility. She has also led training seminars on the emotional and spiritual elements tied to the issue.
Once Hasidah closes, the resources that Solomon has accumulated will need to find a new home. Solomon told J. she has so far considered options such as transferring the information to a national group like the Jewish Fertility Foundation or I Was Supposed to Have a Baby.
Dr. Aimee Baron, a former pediatrician who went through her own fertility issues, founded I Was Supposed to Have a Baby in 2019. She has collaborated with Solomon on summits on Jewish fertility.
“We would be thrilled to have her resources,” Baron said, “and with very clear credit saying that these resources came from Hasidah.”
Despite her years of work to shine a light on infertility in the Jewish world, Solomon credits the clients for their inspiration and insights.
“By far one of the most meaningful experiences of Hasidah was when I could just work with people going through this,” she said. She compiled her resource library by “listening to the questions that people ask me and realizing these are the issues that people really have. Because that’s what I heard, that’s what I addressed.”