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A Yoetzet Halacha, a Hebrew term meaning an advisor in Jewish law, is a title that now refers to a female advisor in the laws related to Taharat HaMishpacha, Jewish family life. Yoatzot Halacha, the Hebrew plural form of Yoetzet Halacha, have studied under the auspices of Nishmat, an Orthodox women’s seminary located in Jerusalem, with a branch in the United States.

Yoatzot Halacha specialize in the laws of Taharat Hamishpacha and other areas of Jewish law related to women’s health. Rabbis study a much broader range of Jewish law.
In addition, Yoatzot do not issue psak, original rulings. Yoatzot follow the rulings of the rabbis at Nishmat or the rabbis in their communities. 

In 1997, Nishmat established the Keren Ariel Institute in Jerusalem to train Yoatzot Halacha, and the first cohort of students graduated in 1999. In North America, Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center began training Yoatzot in 2006. Over time, the number of Yoatzot Halacha in Israel and throughout the Jewish world have increased exponentially, with close to 220 graduates as of 2025.

Over the course of Jewish history, there have occasionally been women who were highly knowledgeable in halacha, Jewish law. These women were consulted by their female peers, especially in areas of halacha related to intimate matters.

As Jewish women have become more Jewishly educated, the possibility opened up for women to study halacha in depth, and Rabbanit Chana Henkin, the founder of the Yoatzot program, recognized the amazing impact this could have for observant Jewish women, who naturally prefer to consult a knowledgeable woman for Taharat Hamishpacha questions.

Women who wish to study to become a Yoetzet must come in with the requisite background to delve deeply into original halachic sources, as the course of study is demanding, with frequent testing and close supervision of their progress. The core of the program is mastery of the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha, with an additional focus on related topics such as women’s health and the marital relationship. This thorough and high-level program prepares Yoatzot to address most of the questions that women ask.

As in any professional field, newer yoatzot will be consulting with their peers and their rabbis more often than more experienced yoatzot. All yoatzot recognize when a posek, an authoritative rabbinic expert, needs to rule on a more difficult or unusual case.