Jessica Jordan Tolbert

Jessica Jordan Tolbert, Yael Yafeh bat Margalit, died on March 27, 2026. She was 32 years old. Jessica is survived by her beloved husband Nick Heskes, her devoted mother Margie Tolbert, her cherished brother Sam Tolbert, and by all who loved her and were changed by knowing her.

In her lifetime, Jessica earned a Bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in psychology and creative writing, with a minor in Jewish studies. She went on to earn a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and became an LCSW, and was in the midst of pursuing a second master's degree at the Perelman School of Medicine's School of Public Health. She devoted her professional life to harm reduction, working with pregnant women and people struggling with addiction, showing up with full humanity for those the world too often overlooks. She was also a published and award-winning poet. She was the light and heart of her family.

Jessica moved through the world with kindness, integrity, and a generosity of spirit that those who knew her felt immediately. She was creative, intellectually curious, ambitious, and funny, and above all, deeply loving. She had a particular gift for seeing the dignity in the most marginalized, and gave her empathy presence to everyone she encountered.

Relatives and friends are invited to a funeral service on Tuesday, March 31 at 10:00am at the South Philadelphia Shtiebel, 1311 South Juniper Street, Philadelphia. A private burial will follow the service.  Rabbanit Dasi FruchterRabbanit & FounderSouth Philadelphia Shtiebel will officiate services. 

The family requests that donations be made to Prevention Point Philadelphia, in support of the harm reduction work that Jessica believed in deeply.