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What is The Global Family Health and Halacha Conference?
Together, let’s strengthen ourselves, our relationships and our health. Nishmat Yoatzot Halacha, rabbis, rebbetzins, physicians, therapists and community leaders will guide us in conversations that focus on our spiritual, emotional and physical well-being, as individuals and in our closest relationships. Our advanced conferencing platform will simulate being together in person, as best as we can in these unconventional times.

There is Something for Everyone!
About Us
Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center/ American Friends of Nishmat
Nishmat’s Yoatzot Halacha are women advisors in Jewish law. We specialize in the intersection between women’s reproductive health and Jewish law. Yoatzot Halacha have become a trusted halachic resource serving tens of thousands of women and families worldwide annually. In the United States and Canada, Nishmat’s Yoatzot Halacha are educated and certified by Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center. They are employed in 25 communities and work closely with shul rabbis to meet community needs.
Schedule
- Sunday May 2
- Monday May 3
- Tuesday May 4
- Wednesday May 5
If I am not for Myself:
Self-Care
If I'm only for Myself:
Family-Care
10:30 AM EDT/ 7:30 AM PDT
Zooming in, Zooming Out: Interpersonal Relationships in our Time
Racheli Taubes and Rabbi Yaakov Taubes
Shana Rishona: Building Healthy Intimacy
Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman, Rabbi Elan Mazer and Rachel Hercman
11:30 AM EDT/ 8:30 AM PDT
Everything Egg Freezing
Yoetzet Halacha Adina Blaustein and Dr. Bat-Sheva Maslow
Sustaining Passion in Perimenopause
Yoetzet Halacha Rivka Alter and Suri Halpern, LMFT
12:30 PM EDT/ 9:30 AM PDT
Social Media: Selfies and Self Image
Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus and Dr. Sarah Roer Bendheim
Thorns in the Hedge of Roses? Challenges Keeping Taharat Hamishpacha
Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis and Dr. Shy Krug
1:30 PM EDT/ 10:30 AM PDT
Nishmat Kallah Teacher Reunion
Yoetzet Halacha Shoshana Samuels with Nishmat-Certified Kallah Teachers
2:30 PM EDT/ 11:30 AM PDT
Keynote Address #1:
Stability in the Eye of the Storm
Sivan Rahav Meir interviews Rabbanit Chana Henkin
3:30 PM EDT/ 12:30 PM PDT
Keynote Address #2: Optimism and Resilience One Year Later
Yoetzet Halacha Nechama Price, Rabbi Elan Mazer, Rabbi J.J. & Yocheved Schacter
5:00 PM EDT/ 2:00 PM PDT
Inspiring Religious Growth in our Ourselves and in our Children
Yoetzet Halacha Shayna Goldberg
7:00 PM EDT/ 4:00 PM PDT
Care or Compulsion: Taharat HaMishpacha and Scrupulosity
Yoetzet Halacha Shira Donath and Dr. Regine Galanti
Dealing with Difficult Relationships: Famous In-law Stories of the Torah
Yoetzet Halacha Nechama Price
8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
So, I Married an Addict
Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus interviews The Frock NYC’s Chaya Chanin
What Men and Women really Want
Yoetzet Halacha Rifki & Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich, Diana Melnick, MACP, RP
9:00 PM EDT/ 6:00 PM PDT
Desire Discrepancies
Yoetzet Halacha Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel and Elisheva Liss, LMFT
Educating our Children for Healthy and Holy Intimacy
Yoetzet Halacha Ilana Gadish, Dr. Yardaena Osband and Rachel Tuchman, LMHC
11:00 PM EDT/ 8:00 PM PDT
Mental Health in Halacha
Yoetzet Halacha Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel and Dr. Chana Gelb
12 PM EDT/9 AM PDT
High School Educators Session
Tzeniut Reboot: A Collaborative Workshop on Teaching Teens
Fertility Journey Featuring Nishmat’s Fertility Counselors, in conjunction with Gefen Fertility
The Four Trimesters
1:00 PM EDT/ 10:00 PM PDT
Fertility Journey I: Diagnosis NOTE: BEGINS AT 1:30 PM
Yoetzet Halacha Laurie Novick, Dr. Jordana Hyman and Dr. Rhonda Adessky
Prenatal Genetic Screening
Yoetzet Halacha Rifki Freundlich, Rabbi Kenneth Auman and Dr. Nathan Fox
8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
Special Men's Program
Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Rabbi Reuven Brand
Peripartum Mental Health
Yoetzet Halacha Tova Warburg Sinensky & Dr. Naomi Greenblatt
9:00 PM EDT/ 6:00 PM PDT
Fertility Journey II: Treatment
Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis, Dr. Bat-Sheva Maslow and Dr. Karen Wasserstein
Breastfeeding and Lactation in Halacha
Dr. Deena Zimmerman, MD, MPH IBCLC and Chani Fingerer, RN
11:00 PM EDT/ 8:00 PM PDT
Sperm Donors, Egg Donors, and Surrogates: Halacha in Practice
Yoetzet Halacha Yardena Cope Yossef Bodenheimer and Reb Zvi Ryzman, moderated by Dr. Sahar Wertheimer
Family Planning
Health Challenges
1 PM EDT/10 AM PDT
Going Hormone Free? Fertility Awareness Method & Halacha
Yoetzet Halacha Adi Bitter
Preventative Breast Health
Yoetzet Halacha Atara Segal, Dr. Ellen Warner and Melissa Rosen of Sharsheret
8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
Contraception Confusion: Options and Consequences
Yoetzet Halacha Sarah Cheses and Dr. Rachel Weinerman
Mikveh with a Medical Challenge
Yoetzet Halacha Dena Block and Dr. Elissa Hellman
9:00 PM EDT/ 6:00 PM PDT
Pull at the Heartstrings or Knot in the Stomach: Family Planning after 35
Yoetzet Halacha Rifka Sonenberg and Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Yoetzet Halacha Bracha Rutner, Dr. Scott & Rivki Chudnoff
10:30 PM EDT/ 7:30 PM PDT
Pelvic Pain, Painful Periods, Unexplained Infertility:
Endometriosis and its Halachic Implications
Yoetzet Halacha Dr. Jordana Topp and Dr. Iris Orbuch
11:30 PM EDT/ 8:30 PM PDT
Midor leDor: Preconception Genetic Testing
Yoetzet Halacha Ilana Gadish, Dr. Larry Platt and Dr. Hindi Posy
2 PM EDT/11 AM PDT
High School Student Session
What Do You Really Want?
Yoetzet Halacha Shayna Goldberg
12 PM EDT/9 AM PDT
High School Student Session
What does the Torah say about Falling In Love?
Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus
Celebrating 21 Years of Nishmat Yoatzot Halacha
1:00 PM EDT/ 10:00 AM PDT
From Classic Questions to Confronting Covid: 21 Years in the Field
Yoatzot Halacha Shira Donath, Hadassa Klein and Nechama Price
Yoatzot In Action
8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
Makeup, Manicures & Mikveh
Yoatzot Halacha Hindy Feder and Bracha Rutner
Tevilah in the Tub: What Makes a Kosher Mikveh?
Yoetzet Halacha Stacey Goldman and Rabbi Gedalyah Berger
Yoatzot In Collaboration
9:00 PM EDT/ 6:00 PM PDT
Moreh Derech: Rav Yehuda Herzl Henkin ZT"L and the Yoatzot Halacha
Yoetzet Halacha Laurie Novick
11:00 PM EDT/ 8:00 PM PDT
Closing Remarks
Rabbanit Henkin
Register now
for more information:
American Friends of Nishmat | 520 Eighth Avenue, 4th Floor | New York, NY 10018 | Phone: 646-378-5895 Info@afnishmat.org
Mizrachi Canada | 4600 Bathurst Ave. Suite 316 |Toronto, ON M2R 3V2| Phone: 416-630-9266 mizrachi@mizrachi.ca
