Rabbanit Chana Henkin
Chief Editor
Rabbanit Chana Henkin
Chief Editor
Rabbanit Chana Henkin, founder and Dean of Nishmat, is the Editor-in-Chief of the Nishmat HaBayit Research Institute since its inception in 2012. Together with her husband, noted halachic authority Rabbi Yehuda Henkin z”l, Rabbanit Henkin created the unique role of Yoatzot Halacha, women experts in Taharat Hamishpacha and women’s health.
Rabbanit Henkin is a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Stern College and YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. She received Honorary Doctorates from both Bar Ilan University and Yeshiva University, and was awarded Israel’s prestigious Agrest Prize for innovative religious education. The Henkin family made aliya in 1972, and Rabbanit Henkin lives in Jerusalem, where her life is devoted to advancing Torah and serving the Jewish people. In 2017, Rabbanit Chana Henkin was honored with the city of Jerusalem’s Yakir Yerushalayim Award on Jerusalem Day, when the city marked 50 years since its reunification.
Michal Roness
Yoetzet Halacha & Director of Nishmat HaBayit Institute
Michal Roness
Yoetzet Halacha & Director of Nishmat HaBayit Institute
Michal Roness graduated Nishmat’s Keren Ariel program for Yoatzot Halacha in 2005 and has been the director of Machon Nishmat HaBayit since its inception in 2012 as the Research Institute of Nishmat’s Yoatzot Halacha. Michal is also the coordinator of Nishmat’s Fertility Counselor program, which helps couples navigate the halachic aspects of their fertility journey. A responder on the Golda Koschitzky Hotline since 2008, she is a also a lecturer on Taharat Hamishpacha and other halachic topics. She is a valued resource within her community in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where she resides with her family.
Michal was born in Australia and made aliya in 1994. A graduate of Bar Ilan University, with a degree in Political Science and Communications, Michal completed a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution at Hebrew University.
Rav Yaacov Varhaftig
Rabbinic Supervisor
Rav Yaacov Varhaftig
Rabbinic Supervisor
Rav Yaacov Varhaftig was a partner in the founding of the Yoetzet Halacha initiative in 1999 with Rabbi Yehuda Henkin z"l and Rabbanit Chana Henkin. He is the senior posek for the Nishmat Yoatzot Halacha and is involved in many aspects of the Yoatzot Halacha programs: as the rabbinic dean of the Keren Ariel Yoetzet Halacha Program in Jerusalem, as the primary rabbinic consultant on Nishmat's Golda Koschitzky Hotline, and as the halachic supervisor of Nishmat’s Hebrew Yoetzet Halacha website.
Rav Varhaftig is the head of Kollel Beit David at Machon Harry Fischel, the former Rav of Kehilla Neve Nof in Har Nof, Jerusalem, and a retired dayan of the Israeli Rabbanut Beit Din for Conversion.
Rav Yitzchak Yaavetz
Rabbinic Editor & Researcher
Rav Yitzchak Yaavetz
Rabbinic Editor & Researcher
Rav Yitzchak Yaavetz is the rabbinic editor and researcher for the Nishmat Habayit Research Institute. He studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva Ketana and Yeshiva Gevoha in Bnei Brak, as well as in the Brisk, Mir and Kol Yerushalayim yeshivot in Jerusalem. He currently teaches students at the Derech Chayim Hesder Yeshiva in Gan Yavneh near Ashdod, a yeshiva targeting Haredi young men who wish to combine high-level Torah study along with meaningful army service in the Israel Defense Forces.
Rav Yaavetz lives with his family in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Dr. Deena Zimmerman
Yoetzet Halacha & Medical Supervisor
Dr. Deena Zimmerman
Yoetzet Halacha & Medical Supervisor
Dr. Deena Zimmerman supervises all the medical content of the Nishmat HaBayit Research Institute. Dr Zimmerman founded Nishmat's Women's Health and Halacha website Yoatzot.org in 1999, served as the site director until 2023, and continues to supervise the medical information. She is also responsible for the medical curriculum of the new yoatzot.
Dr. Zimmerman, a graduate of Yale University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is a pediatrician with a lifelong love of Judaic studies. One of Nishmat’s first certified yoatzot halacha, Deena is the author of “A Lifetime Companion of Jewish Family Life,” “Mi Dor L’Dor: Jewish Legal Medical and Ethical Perspectives on Genetics,” and numerous medical and halachic articles.
Rabbanit Noa Lau
Yoetzet Halacha, Editor, Researcher & Writer
Rabbanit Noa Lau
Yoetzet Halacha, Editor, Researcher & Writer
Rabbanit Noa Lau is the dean of Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Program for Yoatzot Halacha in Jerusalem and teaches halacha to the students there as well as in the Miriam Glaubach Center for Yoatzot Halacha in the United States. She was certified as a Yoetzet Halacha in 2003, has answered questions on the Golda Koschitzky Hotline, and receives many questions in her neighborhood of Baka, Jerusalem, where she resides with her family.
Rabbanit Lau is a graduate of Bar Ilan University, where she received an B.A. in Bible and Jewish Philosophy and an M.A. in Bible. She has taught Talmud and Tanach in high schools in Kibbutz Sa’ad and in Jerusalem, and currently holds the Moshe and Charlotte Green Chair of Jewish Law at Nishmat.
Hindy Feder
Yoetzet Halacha, Researcher & Writer
Hindy Feder
Yoetzet Halacha, Researcher & Writer
Hindy Feder studied to be a Yoetzet Halacha at the Miriam Glaubach Center in the United States, completing the program in 2019. She teaches kallot and responds to questions in her community of Lawrence, New York, where she resides with her family.
A graduate of Stern College, Hindy completed a graduate degree at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli School of Education, has taught Torah in high schools and post-high school programs in the New York area, and is currently teaching at Stern College for Women. Hindy is working on the upcoming second volume of Nishmat Habayit responsa.
Shira Kfir
Yoetzet Halacha, Research Assistant
Shira Kfir
Yoetzet Halacha, Research Assistant
Shira Kfir graduated Nishmat’s Keren Ariel program for Yoatzot Halacha in 2011 and has been answering questions on the Golda Koschitzky Hotline since 2012. Shira is certified as a Nishmat Fertility Counselor, a yoetzet halacha who has received advanced training in fertility issues and halacha, and serves as a resource for couples on their fertility journey. Shira is a researcher under the auspices of Nishmat’s Research Institute for Yoatzot Halacha, and is a contributor to Nishmat Habayit, a muti-volume project with responsa from Yoatzot Halacha. She answers questions within her community in Neve Daniel, where she resides with her family.
Shira is originally from Australia, and made aliya in 1997. A graduate of Hebrew University, Shira works as an occupational therapist and specializes in child development.
Nathalie Loewenberg
Yoetzet Halacha, Researcher & Writer
Nathalie Loewenberg
Yoetzet Halacha, Researcher & Writer
Nathalie Loewenberg became a Yoetzet Halacha in 2009 and is working on the upcoming second volume of Nishmat Habayit. A native of France, Nathalie responds to French-speakers in Israel and around the world, fielding questions on a dedicated hotline in French and replying to questions submitted through the French-language Health and Halacha Website. This website is an essential online resource for francophone women, and Nathalie is responsible for the content on the website and for the Yoatzot Facebook page in French.
Contributors
Gila Braner
Yoetzet Halacha
Gila Braner
Yoetzet Halacha
Rabbanit Gila Braner completed her studies at Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Program for Yoatzot Halacha in 2004 and has been serving as a resource for families in her community of Efrat since then. She has been teaching kallot for many years and also gives refresher courses for married women. Gila worked for the Nishmat Habayit Research Institute on a booklet addressing the halachic concerns of women in peri-menopause and menopause and is also studying to be a Nishmat fertility advisor.
Gila has a master’s degree in Biochemistry from Hebrew University, as well as a master’s degree in Science and Halacha from Bar Ilan University. She teaches Biology in Neveh Chana High School for girls and in Mekor Chaim High School for boys in the Gush Etzion region. In addition, she is part of the team of Ma’agalei Nefesh – the Center of Mental Health, Community, and Halacha.
Sarit-Chen Kroitoro
Yoetzet Halacha
Sarit-Chen Kroitoro
Yoetzet Halacha
Sarit-Chen Kroitoro became a Yoetzet Halacha in 2019 and responds to questions on Nishmat’s Hebrew-language Women’s Health and Halacha website. Sarit-Chen specializes in questions related to mental health and wrote several publications for the Nishmat Habayit Research Institute on the treatment of women suffering from OCD who are navigating the halachot of Taharat Hamishpacha.
Sarit-Chen has a BA in Social Work and an MA in Public Administration with a specialty in non-profits. She works as a social worker in the field of mental health, teaches Torah in her community in Beer Sheva, and teaches online learning groups.
Tirza Kelman
Yoetzet Halacha
Tirza Kelman
Yoetzet Halacha
Tirza Kelman became a Yoetzet Halacha in 2006 and is the founder and director of Nishmat’s Health and Halacha Hebrew-language website. Tirza is one of the senior Yoatzot Halacha preparing the new generation of women studying to be Yoatzot Halacha at Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Program in Jerusalem. A resident of Lod, she is active in her hometown and responds to many questions from women within her community.
After graduating from the Open University in Israel, Tirza completed her doctorate in Jewish Thought at Ben Gurion University, focusing on Rabbi Yosef Karo’s halachic work the “Beit Yosef.” She teaches Halacha and the History of Jewish Law at several higher institutions of learning in Israel, and was recently a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.