The first time Sandy met Rabbinit Chana Henkin was at a shiur in 1990 at a home in New Rochelle, N.Y. As an educator and guidance counselor, Sandy was very impressed and inspired by Chana’s passion and knowledge of Gemara and Tanach.

Thus began a relationship in which Sandy along with her husband, Jerry supported Chana’s early years to create Nishmat. It was an arduous struggle for the Rabbanit to raise an understanding and importance of women’s learning of Gemara and Teach to the highest levels.

At a young age, their daughter, Lisa, was thus inspired and ultimately became a Judaic Studies High School teacher, a rebbetzin, and amongst the first graduating class of Yoatzot Halacha in America.

Sandy and Jerry are the proud parents of Lisa {Rabbi Yehuda} Septimus and Daniel { Daniella} Seligsohn. And also, proud grandparents of Lea, Avi, Dalya, Gil, Max, Livia and Ben.

Rose was raised in Lakewood, NJ, amid a large community of Holocaust Survivors. Appreciative for her Day School and Yeshiva High School opportunities, Rose has been a lifelong advocate for Jewish education, including its accessibility and growth. With a graduate degree in corporate and organizational communication, Rose served as development officer for AFN, a role in which she built awareness and fostered engagement in the mission of Nishmat across US Jewish communities. She continues her commitment as an AFN board member and as a governor in the Nishmat International Board of Governors.

Among Rose’s volunteer activities, she is a trustee for TiKVA Children’s Homes (Ukraine and Romania), participated as an interviewer in the Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and chaired the annual Holocaust Commemoration of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Teaneck. Rose has 8 children – the 4 she raised and their 4 spouses. Their children are the “dividends” from her most precious investment.

Inspired by Rabbanit Chana Henkin’s vision that women access the highest level of Torah learning, Linda Goldenberg Mayman was instrumental in expanding awareness and support for Nishmat’s evolution by helping bring it to Los Angeles after its founding in 1990.

A graduate of UCLA and UCLA law school and attorney for the California State University and Colleges, Linda has been a trailblazing advocate for women in the Jewish world. She was the first female president of the Los Angeles BJE (Builders of Jewish Education) and a member of the Executive Committee Board of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, where she established the first Young Women’s Professional Group. She was also a founding member of the board of Shalhevet High School in LA and president and founder of her shul, The Westwood Village Synagogue.

Together with her husband Bob, she has raised four remarkable children David, Rachel, Sarah and current Nishmat board member Elisabeth and is enjoying many wonderful grandchildren.

Dr. Julia Baruch has been the Yoetzet Halacha (Advisor in Jewish Law) at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun since 2016. She has also previously served as the Yoetzet Halacha for West Side Institutional Synagogue and Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan and for the Riverdale Jewish Center. Julia is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Yeshiva University Counseling Center, where she provides weekly therapy for students at YU’s various undergraduate and graduate schools. She graduated from Columbia University cum laude with a B.A. in psychology, and she received her M.A. and Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Julia completed her certification as a Yoetzet Halacha in the second graduating class of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center’s U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program. She and her husband, David, live in Englewood, NJ with their five children.