Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

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Nishmat Graduates 7 New Yoatzot Halacha!


Almost 200 hundred friends, family, and rabbinic leaders took part in the graduation of the second class of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center’s U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (KJ) this October. The seven graduates, Julia Baruch, Rookie Billet, Shira Donath, Shiffy Friedman, Talia Furleiter, Ilana Gadish and Dalia Shulman, studied diligently for two years under the leadership of Program Dean Rabbi Kenneth Auman, Program Director Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis, and Nishmat’s faculty. These scholars bring the global total of Yoatzot Halacha to over 100 women.

American Friends of Nishmat (AFN) Chair of Yoatzot Halacha, Dr. Giti Bendheim, the afternoon’s MC, pronounced the graduating scholars,  “women with consummate learning and leadership skills who are poised to further our communities and continue to change the landscape for orthodox families in the United States.” She further stressed that Nishmat’s founders, “Rabbanit Chana and Rabbi Yehuda Henkin represent all that is thoughtful and vibrant about scholarly Jewish activism in our day. Their great erudition combines with deep Ahavat Yisrael to bring forth courageous ideas that translate into powerful actions.”

Collectively, the U.S. Yoatzot and graduates completed Tractate Sukkah in memory of Rabbi Eitam and Na’ama Henkin Hy”d, who were murdered last month by Palestinian terrorists. Yoetzet graduate Rookie Billet led a siyum at the graduation emotionally proclaiming “in honoring the memory of Rav Eitam and Naama Henkin, hy”d, we recognize and honor their Torah, their yishuv Eretz Yisrael, their brilliance, and their lives of Kiddush Hashem both professionally and personally.”

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, KJ’s senior Rabbi and longtime board member of AFN, discussed that in the Parsha, “Avraham Avinu had every right to relax and recuperate from his brit milah. Instead, he was sitting on the threshold in the heat of the day looking for more mitzvot and chesed.” He continued, “that is the image we have in our minds today as we think of how Rabbanit Henkin positioned herself 18 years ago in Nishmat’s tent [when establishing this trailblazing program for women scholars] …What a glorious tribute today’s graduation is to the Rabbanit herself, who like Avraham Avinu, is always sitting on the threshold, looking for additional ways in which to serve Gd and the Jewish people.”

Yoetzet Halacha Dr. Deena Zimmerman, spoke as Nishmat’s representative in the absence of Dean Rabbanit Chana Henkin. Deena relayed that, “16 years ago, at the very first graduation of Yoatzot Halacha in Israel, we looked forward to the day when young women could not imagine a reality which did not include the option to ask a Yoetzet Halacha. That day has arrived and Yoatzot are now an integral part of the Jewish landscape.”

Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University, delivered the keynote address. He began his remarks by reciting the Shechiyanu bracha (without שם ומלכותand declaring that that “Today is a Yuntif!” He continued that “thanks to the dogged determination and ferocious tenacity of Rabbanit Henkin, we have merited to see in our time the emergence of women as formidable Torah scholars. HaKodesh Baruch Hu has come to these learned women, and said ‘lech lecha’. Leave the places that you have occupied for many centuries with great distinction, and I want you to go to a place that I know exists, a place that I know is waiting for you. Great things are going to come from you. I will bless you and you will indeed be a blessing for the Jewish people.”

Ilana Gadish represented the graduates and reflected upon their studies by paraphrasing a Midrash which states, “if a person makes themselves ownerless like the desert, they will receive Torah as a gift.” Ilana continued that “the graduating Yoetzot have truly shared this midbar experience. Our learning was boundless…we had to give ourselves over fully to the Torah, often making many sacrifices to do so. This midbar metaphor seems to be a lonely, isolated experience. But standing here today, it’s very clear to me that …chazal knew, and we know, that we don’t live in a vacuum. If anything, during such an intense time of Torah study, we hold tightly on to the bonds and to the people that are there with us, We stand here today because … our families, our communities, our teachers, AFN Board members, and staff stepped up to support us. And for that we have boundless gratitude.” Ilana concluded by stating that “We look forward to our years of service ahead, helping enhance observance of halacha and strengthening the relationships between people in Klal Yisrael.”

Felix Glaubach, U.S. Yoetzet program founder and benefactor, addressed the audience with a hearty “Gut Yontif, Gut Yontif!” and then addressed the graduates, “Hatzlacha in your endeavors, I’m sure that you will all succeed, and you will all be a credit to Am Yisrael.”

Gitty closed, “And we say to Nishmat, חזקי ואמצי, be strong and full of courage, as you continue to shape and strengthen the future of Am Yisrael.”

May we continue together to facilitate and celebrate many more milestones in women’s Torah scholarship and leadership


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