MIRIAM GLAUBACH CENTER

DRS. MIRIAM & FELIX GLAUBACH

“Hi. Can I ask you a ‘Yoetzet question’?”

American Orthodox women have a new way of describing their questions about taharat hamishpachah and mikveh, marriage and wellness. They ask “Yoetzet questions” and they’ve come to expect and cherish access to a Yoetzet Halacha in their communities. What a dramatic change in just one generation!

This is the genius of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center and its visionary, Dr. Felix Glaubach.

When Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center was established in 2006, barely anyone outside of Israel had heard of Yoatzot Halacha. But, Dr. Glaubach determined that Yoetzet Halacha would become a household word in American Orthodox Jewish homes within five years. Together we set to work. Complemented by a national publicity campaign, a small determined cadre of Yoatzot crisscrossed the U.S., introducing themselves and their new Jewish profession to the Orthodox community. They gave hundreds of speeches and divrei Torah. They counseled individual women and consulted congregational rabbis and roshei yeshiva.

Dr. Felix Glaubach’s vision sparked a revolution. By 2011, women, 20-60 years old, expected their synagogue or community to hire a Yoetzet. But only three Yoatzot lived in the U.S. A savvy philanthropist who recognized the Miriam Glaubach Center’s great appeal, Dr. Glaubach backed the Center’s expansion into an educational blockbuster that would produce Nishmat Yoatzot Halacha on American soil, adopting Nishmat’s masterful halachic and medical curriculum and it’s system of rabbinic certification.

As a result, today, nearly a decade later, 21 Yoatzot work for 50 institutions in 25 communities all across United States, Canada and England. Orthodox women all over the U.S. and Canada are asking “Yoetzet questions.” They regard access to Yoatzot Halacha as one of the basic ritual services of their community. As a result, observant young women are asking more halachic questions and learning more about the halachic process and how to better incorporate it into their lives.

BECOME A YOETZET HALACHA

Scholarship, Leadership & Faith

U.S. Yoatzot Halacha attend annual Professional Development Seminar with (front row) Miriam Glaubach Center Director & Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis, Senior Lecturer Rabbi Gedalyah Berger, MGC Dean Rabbi Kenneth Auman, Nishmat’s Founder & Dean Rabbanit Chana Henkin, Yoetzet Halacha Noa Lau, President Emerita, Harriet Sherman Schimel.

Yoatzot Halacha Fellows are chosen for their Torah scholarship, leadership potential and yirat shamayim (profound faith). To become a Yoetzet, they complete a rigorous two-year certification program, spending over 1,000 hours immersed in a demanding halachic curriculum, coupled with studies in women’s health (obstetrics and gynecology, fertility, sexuality, genetics, women’s cancers, postpartum wellness, lactation, and psychology). Certified Yoatzot Halacha have passed a series of written exams and comprehensive oral examinations before a panel of prominent poskim (halachic authorities).

Nishmat is the only institution granting Yoatzot Halacha certification. Israeli Fellows study at Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Halachic Institute. Americans and Canadians enroll through Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center for U.S. Yoatzot Halacha.

Contact Yoetzet Halacha Atara Eis, Director of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center.