Manhattan, NY
Manhattan Yoetzet Initiative
Partnering communities:
Congregation Ohab Zedek
Lincoln Square Synagogue
West Side Institutional Synagogue
Downtown Va'ad: 6th Street and Stanton Street Synagogues
The Jewish Center
About us
The Manhattan Yoetzet Initiative is a consortium of nine synagogues in Manhattan with a diverse membership body. We are proud to have had a yoetzet serving our community since 2008, and for the last six years we have had a yoetzet in residence. Currently, we have two yoatzot halacha working to enhance the quality of life for Orthodox Jewish women and couples on the Upper West Side, Upper East Side and in Downtown Manhattan.
our Yoetzet - Shiffy Friedman
Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman graduated from Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center’s U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program in 2015. She counsels women in the area of women’s health and halacha, both through her roles as Yoetzet Halacha in Westchester County and Manhattan and through teaching brides and couples before marriage. Shiffy also teaches Talmud and Halacha at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School in Teaneck, NJ. She received her B.A. in Judaic studies from Stern College and a dual M.A. in Education and Jewish studies from New York University. Prior to that, she spent a year studying in Israel at the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women in Migdal Oz. She and her husband, Rabbi Noam Friedman, serve as the OU-JLIC couple at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, where they work to enhance Jewish life and learning on campus.
