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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.
Canadian Yoatzot Initiative/ Mizrachi Canada
The Canadian Yoatzot Initiative serves Canadian Jewish communities under the auspices of Mizrachi, a global community-oriented organization focused on building and strengthening Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist Communities around the World.
Partnering Communities
Meet Our Speakers
- All
- Yoatzot & Rebbetzins
- Rabbis
- Medical Professionals
- Therapists
- Wellness
Dr. Rhonda Adessky
Clinical Director of Keren Gefen Fertility Organization
Yoetzet Halacha Rivka Alter
Riverdale Yoetzet Initiative
Rabbi Kenneth Auman
Dean, Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center's U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program
Batsheva Bane, RN
Certified Nurse Midwife and Lactation Counselor
Rabbi Gedalyah Berger
Senior Lecturer at Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center's U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program
Yoetzet Halacha Adi Bitter
Yoetzet Halacha and Fertility Counsellor
Yoetzet Halacha Dena Block
Congregation Agudath Sholom, Stamford, CT
Yoetzet Halacha Adina Blaustein
Green Road Synagogue Beechwood, OH
Rabbi Reuven Brand
Founding Rosh Kollel of the Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago and Dean of the Midwest Center for Jewish Learning
Yoetzet Halacha Sarah Cheses
New England Yoetzet Halacha Initiative (NEYHI)
Rivki Chudnoff
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
Teaneck, NJ
Adv. Yoetzet Halacha Yardena (Cope-Yossef) Bodenheimer
Yoetzet Halacha and Fertility Counselor; Legal Adviser, Jewish Law Dept., Israeli Ministry of Justice
Yoetzet Halacha Shira Donath
Congregation Darchei Noam in Fair Lawn, NJ
Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis
Director of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center and U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program, Fertility Counselor
Yoetzet Halacha Hindy Feder
Member of Nishmat's Research Institute
Lawrence, NY
Chanie Fingerer, RN
Perinatal Registered Nurse and founder of 'The Happy Birthway' Podcast
Dr. Nathan Fox
Board-certified specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology, with a subspecialty in Maternal Fetal Medicine
Yoetzet Halacha Rifki Freundlich
Congregation TBDJ, Montreal
Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich
Congregation TBDJ, Montreal
Dr. Karen Friedman
Psychologist and Founding Director of Karen Gefen Mind/Body Fertility Organization
Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman
Manhattan Yoetzet Initiative and Westchester County
Yoetzet Halacha Ilana Gadish
Los Angeles Yoetzet Initiative
Dr. Regine Galanti
Psychologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of individuals with anxiety and OCD using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Dr. Chana Gelb
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Tziporah Gelman
Founder and Instructor at Frumba Chicago
Yoetzet Halacha Shayna Goldberg
Mashgicha Ruchanit in the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women in Migdal Oz
Yoetzet Halacha Stacey Goldman
Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey Yoetzet Initiative and Young Israel/Aish Las Vegas
Dr. Rachel Z. Goodman
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Co-Associate Director of the Montreal Jewish General Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Risk Assessment Clinic (ARAC)
Dr. Naomi Greenblatt
Reproductive Psychiatrist
Suri Halpern, LMFT
JD, LMFT, CST Attorney, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and Certified Sex Therapist
Dr. Elissa Hellman
The Confident Kallah
Rabbanit Chana Henkin
Founder and Dean of NISHMAT: The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Jerusalem
Rachel Hercman, LCSW
Psychotherapist specializing in dating and relationships, sexual health, and trauma
Dr. Jordana Hyman
Senior Staff Specialist at Shaare Zedek Hospital’s IVF Unit, Director of Medical Curriculum for Nishmat Gefen Fertility Counselors
Yoetzet Halacha Hadassa Klein
Nishmat's Golda Koschitzky Women's Halachic Hotline
Dr. Shy Krug
Clinical Psychologist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Rabbi Daniel Korobkin
Rabbi at BAYT, President of the Rabbinical Council of America
Elisheva Liss, LMFT
Elisheva Liss, LMFT
Dr. Bat-Sheva Maslow
Infertility Specialist &
Director of Medical Curriculum for Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center's U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program
Rabbi Elan Mazer
National Director of Mizrachi Canada
Diana Melnick
Registered Psychotherapist and Sex Therapist
Naomi Nachman
The Aussie Gourmet
Yoetzet Halacha Laurie Novick
Dr. Iris Orbuch
Director of the Advanced Gynecologic Laparoscopy Center in Los Angeles and New York City.
Dr. Yardaena Osband
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York
Dr. Hindi Posy
Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine and the Associate Residency Program Director for Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Yoetzet Halacha Nechama Price
Englewood, Livingston, Long Branch, Tenafly and West Orange
Sivan Rahav Meir
World Mizrachi Shlicha to North America. Media personality for Channel 2 News, Yedioth Acharonot, and the IDF radio (Galei Tzahal).
Dr. Sarah Roer Bendheim
Psychologist with a PhD in Clinical Psychology
Melissa Rosen
Sharsheret’s Director of Training and Education
Yoetzet Halacha Bracha Rutner
Kemp Mill Synagogue Silver Spring, MD
Yoetzet Halacha Shoshana Samuels
Scholar in Nishmat's Mechon L'Mechkar and teaches Nishmat's online Kallah Teacher Certification Course
Rabbi J.J. Schacter
Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University
Rebbetzin Yocheved Schacter
Psychotherapist and Psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and Teaneck, NJ
Yoetzet Halacha Atara Segal
Baron Hirsch Congregation, Memphis, TN
Yoetzet Halacha Rifka Sonenberg
Director of the Canadian Yoatzot Initiative
Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus
Five Towns Yoetzet Initiative, NY
Lisa Silverstein
Pilates in a Pencil Skirt
Yoetzet Halacha Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel
Talmud and Halacha Instructor at Nishmat, veteran staff member on Nishmat’s Golda Koschitzky Women’s Halachic Hotline
Yoetzet Halacha Racheli Taubes
Mount Sinai Jewish Center
Rabbi Yaakov Taubes
Rabbi at Mount Sinai Jewish Center
Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner
Rosh Beit Midrash, Kollel Torah MiTzion, Toronto
Yoetzet Halacha Jordana Topp, DMD
Beth Jacob Congregation, Beverly Hills, CA.
Rachel Tuchman
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)
Yoetzet Halacha Tova Warburg Sinensky
Teaneck, Atlanta and the Greater Philadelphia Area
Dr. Ellen Warner
Founder and Director of PYNK: Breast Cancer Program for Young Women
Dr. Karen Wasserstein
Licensed Psychologist in Maryland and Virginia
Yoetzet Halacha Rachel Weber Leshaw
Director of Digital Content at Deracheha and a Gemara Ram at Ohr Torah Stone's Midreshet Lindenbaum
Dr. Rachel Weinerman
Physician specializing in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Dr. Sahar Wertheimer
Chair of JOWMA’s Women’s Health Committee
Abby Weisz
Individual Psychotherapist, Marriage and Family Therapist as well as AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and Sexuality Educator
Dr. Deena Zimmerman
Director, yoatzot.org, Pediatrician, Lactation Consultant
Schedule
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
Rescripting Maternal 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 Chanie 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
Moderator: Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt
Yoatzot In Action
8:00 PM EDT/ 5:00 PM PDT
Makeup, Manicures & Mikveh
Yoatzot Halacha Hindy Feder and Bracha Rutner
Can't I Do My Tevilah in the Tub? Coronavirus and the Makeshift 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
