Halacha Quick Refresh

Harchakot: Get Beyond the Laundry List

Yoetzet Halacha Shira Donath

Shira Donath, Psy.M. serves as the Yoetzet Halacha and Rebbetzin of Congregation Darchei Noam in Fair Lawn, NJ. She is also a Psychology doctoral student at Rutgers University GSAPP and a certified school psychologist. She is currently a pre-doctoral fellow at Achieve Behavioral Health in New York. Shira is passionate about fostering wellness across the lifespan through public lectures, shiurim, and individual conversations.

Proactive Pelvic Health

Riva Preil

Dr. Riva Preil, PT, DPT, WCS, BCB-PMD, CLT is a pelvic floor physical therapist with a passion for pelvic health. She treats women, men, and children with various pelvic floor disorders at Revitalize Physical Therapy, her private practice in New York City. She is certified in various modalities, including biofeedback, lymphedema, and craniosacral therapy to help her patients achieve their goals. Riva is a board certified in Women's Clinical Specialist (WCS) through the American Physical Therapy Association. She recently started a YouTube channel called Pelvic Pearls to help educate others on this very important specialty. Email: riva@revitalizephysicaltherapy.com. Website: revitalizephysicaltherapy.com. Instagram handle: revitalize_pt

Ketamim in 10 Minutes

When it comes to staining, do you ever feel like your rabbi or yoetzet is encouraging you to cut corners in Halacha and take advantage of loopholes? Do you wonder how this upholds the integrity of Halacha? Would you like to understand some of the halachic concepts behind stains and why we are encouraged to simply ignore certain sightings, while others render us Niddah? These issues and more will be introduced and explained in just ten minutes!

Yoetzet Halacha Stacey Goldman

Stacey Goldman teaches Tanach at Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Philadelphia and gives adult education classes all over the greater Philadelphia area. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the U.S. Yoetzet Halacha Program of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center and currently serves as Yoetzet Halacha for the greater Philadelphia community and the Young Israel/Aish in Las Vegas. She has published reflective essays and articles on chabad.org. You can find her audio classes on YUTorah.org. Stacey lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband and is the happy mother of five boys.

"Mom, where are you Going?" 2020

The value of privacy is prominent in our discussions about mikvah. Emphasis is placed on keeping a woman’s mikvah night private, so that details about a couple’s intimate life can be preserved. We are taught we can even tell a lie if someone will figure out where we’ve been on mikvah night. In this TEN Talk we discuss the origins of the halachot related to privacy and mikvah night and we also consider – what might be lost if we keep all of our conversations about mikvah under wraps?

Yoetzet Halacha 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.

Health Optimization​

Covid, Vaccine & Pregnancy

COVID 19 has changed our lives in innumerable ways. If you are pregnant, or planning a pregnancy, are there risks to getting sick COVID-19? Will getting vaccinated harm you or the baby? Can the vaccine affect fertility or future children? This session will give straight answers to these questions and more!

Dr. Bruce Mazer MD

Bruce Mazer, MD, is currently the Associate Scientific Director (Strategy) of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. He is a graduate of McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and has been a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics since 1991. From 2000 to 2015, he served as Division Head of Allergy and Immunology at the MCH. In 2015, he was appointed Head of Child Health Research at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). In October 2016, he became Interim Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the RI-MUHC, a role he held until July 2020.

Preconception Health Optimization

Planning a pregnancy is one of the most exciting and scary times in a woman’s life. But just as important as the pregnancy and delivery itself, is thinking about how to optimize your health before getting pregnant. After all, you are the only place your baby will be as it’s developing and growing! This talk will provide some information and topics to think about to make sure you start an upcoming pregnancy in the healthiest way possible

"Confident Kallah"- Dr. Elissa Hellman

As an experienced board-certified OBGYN, Dr. Elissa Hellman has been in practice for the past ten years in Milwaukee, WI. She is also the physician at The Confident Kallah, a telemedicine gynecology practice focused on the needs of Jewish women who observe Taharas Hamishpacha. Throughout her years as a clinician, she noticed a gap in women’s health awareness and education. This developed into a special interest in patient education and being a resource for the Jewish community in relation to body awareness and women’s preventative health, starting from a young age.

Preventative Mental & Cognitive Health

This TEN Talk is a “wellness-focused” overview of a longer course with the approach that places memory in the wider context of healthy aging. It is based originally on the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Memory Enhancement Program, and has been given in individual and group formats by Dr. Rachel Goodman over the past 20 years . This course is geared towards vibrant individuals, often known as the “worried well” who are really just in need of some organizational skills to improve their memory habits. These classes have also been given to corporate groups including younger people who want to enhance their memory to improve their on the job performance. For all populations, young and old, the program emphasizes that memory fitness, just like physical fitness, must be maintained through practice.

Dr. Rachel Goodman Aspler

Dr. Rachel Goodman is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 20 years of experience in providing psychotherapy and psychological assessment to a variety of populations. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from St. John’s University in New York. She later held the position of Clinical Assistant Professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she specialized in the areas of memory, neuropsychological assessment, caregiver stress, and trauma. In her practice where she works primarily with adults and older adults, Dr. Goodman specializes in the areas of anxiety and depressive disorders, neuropsychological evaluation, memory wellness, stress, and trauma. Dr. Goodman is the co-Associate Director of the Montreal Jewish General Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Risk Assessment Clinic (ARAC).

Fourth Trimester: Childbirth and Postpartum

The postpartum period is so exciting and special, but also comes with many challenges. In this Ten Talk, we will discuss the transitions that occur during the fourth trimester, providing clinical understanding and halachic guidance for this time period.

Batsheva Bane RN & Yoetzet Halacha Sarah Cheses

Batsheva Bane is certified nurse midwife and certified lactation counselor working at the Women’s Health Center at Grove Street and inpatient at Jersey City Medical Center. As a former NICU and postpartum nurse and a mother of three, I have specific passion in serving women and educating about birth and breastfeeding. I live with my husband and children in Clifton, NJ

Sarah Cheses serves as a Yoetzet Halacha through the New England Yoetzet Halacha Initiative (NEYHI), and as a dean of students at Maimonides School in Brookline, MA. She holds a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University, and lives with her family in Sharon, MA.

Diabetes & Women's Sexual Health

Diabetes affects the body in many different ways. Most women are unaware of how it can affect their sexual health. Diabetes nurse educator Julie Rubenstein discusses how yeast and bladder infections, sexual pain and low sex drive can be related to poorly controlled diabetes and provides tips on how to manage them.

Julie Rubenstein RN

Julie Rubenstein RN is a registered nurse and diabetes educator. She is passionate about giving people the knowledge and tools they need in order to properly care and advocate for their health and thus improve their lives. She lives in London, Ontario, a town two hours west of Toronto with a small Jewish community

From Retreat to Re Entry: From Pikuach Nefesh to Briut Hanefesh

Dr. Amy Fox Griffel & Dr. Hindi Mermelstein

Amy S. Fox MD, MS is a Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Vice Chair for Clinical Research for the Department of Pathology. She is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist, Clinical Virologist and an expert in laboratory diagnostics. In this capacity, she and her lab team were responsible for development and deployment of SarsCov 2 testing for Montefiore Health Systems in New York. Her early experience has been published recently in the journal The Pathologist, and she has been recently quoted as an expert on the role of antibody in the clinical space. She has co authored over ten scientific publications related to Sars Cov 2 to date.

Dr Hindi Mermelstein is an adult psychiatrist with added specialties in geriatric psychiatry and consultation-liaison psychiatry/psychosomatic medicine, the specialty where psychiatrist consult to and are embedded with other medical specialties. In this capacity she treats individuals with complex conditions, especially women. Dr Mermelstein completed her undergraduate degree at Touro College and was the first female graduate to go to medical school. She obtained her MD degree at SUNY:Upstate College of Medicine, followed by an Internal Medicine internship at Beth Israel Medical Center, a psychiatry residency at NYU- Bellevue and a fellowship in the Dept of Neurology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She has served in a variety of clinical, administrative and academic positions and has been involved in a number of community and professional organizations including JOWMA and is currently the Chair of the Standards and Ethics Committee for the Academy of Consultation- Liaison Psychiatry.

Our Shifting Roles in the Home

This year, our work-life balance shifted dramatically, and we recalibrated the roles we played in our own homes. What now?

Abby Weisz

Abby Weisz, LCSW, M. Ed, is a Individual Psychotherapist, Marriage and Family Therapist as well as AASECT Certified Sex therapist and Sexuality Educator. She studied at Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University, New York; Azrieli Graduate School of Education and Administration, New York; Fordham Graduate School of Social Service, New York; the Family Institute, Neve Yerushalayim, Israel and did her training in Sex Therapy at Bar Ilan University, Israel As the founder of JewishIntimacy.com, Abby has spent the past decade developing rich learning opportunities for women and couples across the spectrum of Jewry to help grown in understanding of the self as well as the marital relationship. Abby trains Kallah teachers, as well as Yoatzot Halacha in the areas of intimacy and sexuality.

HPV Vaccine

Despite the growing research and clear association between human papilloma virus and cancers, vaccination rates remain low. This is largely due to lack of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. Gain an understanding of HPV, the vaccine, and its value for our children.

Yardena Mandel DNP, APN, FNP-C

Dr. Yardena Mandel completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 2019. She is an Advanced Practice Nurse at University Health and Urgent Care since January 2020 and taking on a new position as a hospitalist. She is an Emergency Room nurse at Clara Maass Medical Center since 2013. She additionally works as a nurse at Camp Simcha. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Stony Brook University and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology with a Pre-Health emphasis from Stern College for Women. Dr. Mandel is extremely passionate and caring, making it her goal to provide the very best care for every patient and tend to each of their needs on an individual basis. When she is not working with her patients, Dr. Mandel enjoys spending time with her husband and five young children.

Lice

Almost anyone who has children, has been a child or who even knows children has encountered lice or scientifically, pediculosis capitis. And adults get it, too! Before Covid19, we lice experts would have called it an epidemic or even pandemic at times, now we don’t quite use those words so loosely, but it really is that common and widespread. While mostly harmless, lice can be very disruptive and can have physical and emotional consequences you would not expect. Learn about what exactly are lice and nits, where they come from, how they spread, how to find them and what to do about them.

Lvia Weisinger BSN, RNC, IBCLC

I have been a Registered Nurse for 25 years. Before I even finished nursing school I was already a bit of a lice expert, having learned my craft on a family member who came to visit for the summer and brought many extra guests. The nurse at the camp she attended was so impressed with my work that she started recommending me to help other families. That was 28 years ago and since then till just recently, in addition to being a Maternal-Child RN and IBCLC, I was the Lice Queen in Bergen County NJ. I made Aliyah in August 2020 with my magnifying lamp and combs and there is no shortage of work here for me, either.

Wellness

Pilates

Lisa Silverstein, "Pilates in a Pencil Skirt"

Lisa Silverstein is a Pilates teacher and registered nurse. She received her Pilates teaching certification from Wingate, and her nursing degree from Columbia University. Lisa teaches both locally at her studio in Modiin, as well as world-wide through her popular online Pilates program: pilatesinapencilskirt.com. Lisa believes that Pilates is for EVERY BODY, and has trained countless students from the professional athlete to the chair-bound, to those seeking to rehabilitate after an injury. She has also just released a brand new online Prenatal Pilates Program. Lisa’s lives with her husband and their four children in Modiin.

Zumba

Frumba Chicago- Tziporah Gelman

Tziporah Gelman is the founder of an all female fitness boutique studio Frumba Chicago, in Skokie, Illinois where she services girls and women from around the globe with fitness classes. Her dream is to inspire women to love themselves and empower them through her workouts. Her message is one of self love and self care. Already ten years in the industry, she has created a global phenomenon uniting women from all backgrounds with her contagious energy and passion for movement. Her personal journey to health and wellness has provided the foundation for the work that she does. She is also a Rebbitzen at Kehilat Chovevei Tzion and the proud mother of 5 children ranging in ages 5-17.

Dairy Delights for Shavuot

Naomi Nachman​

Naomi first started her own kosher personal chef business, The Aussie Gourmet, in 2004 to cater weekly and Shabbat/Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighbouring communities Naomi Nachman has her own cooking show, Sunny Side Up, on the Kosher.com network and also hosts her own weekly show, “Table for Two with Naomi Nachman” on The Nachum Segal Network Naomi has also been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has made a variety of guest appearances on CBS TV (in both NY and Washington), NBC Morning News, Fox 5 New York, and the Hallmark Channel and has been quoted by the Forbes Magazine, Wall Street Journal on Jewish food trends. Naomi has become known as a Kosher food media influencer and has represented many brands on social media, including Kosher.com, Gefen, Tropicana, Breakstone’s, Ore-ida, Gourmet Glatt and Maxwell House.