Nishmat’s Golda Koschitsky Women’s Halachic Hotline, which assists Jewish women seeking woman-to-woman advice on personal questions related to Jewish Law and women’s health, has announced extended hours of operation in the United States and Canada.
The new hours are Sundays-Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., EST; Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., EST; and Saturdays, beginning one half hour after Shabbat for three hours.
A new callback feature invites callers to leave a phone number if the line is busy and a Yoetzet Halacha will return calls in the order they are received.
The Women’s Halachic Hotline, staffed by Yoatzot Halacha—women halachic consultants—educated at Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Jerusalem, is supervised by rabbinic scholars Rabbi Yaakov Varhaftig and Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin in Jerusalem and Rabbi Kenneth Auman in New York.
Nishmat’s Yoatzot Halacha provide observant women the chance to address questions about taharat hamishpachah (an area of Jewish Law relating to marriage, sexuality and women’s health) with women whose Torah scholarship and professional training prepared them to listen and respond to the concerns of each individual woman. Yoatzot provide information, respond to queries and teach women how Jewish law applies to their personal situations.
Women who call Yoatzot often ask questions relating to gynecological problems and procedures; pregnancy, prenatal testing and childbirth; fertility treatments; family planning; menopause; and many other topics.
Yoatzot Halacha are employed by 37 communities and Orthodox synagogues in North America, where they work in unison with community rabbis to teach and develop personal relationships with women who consult them.
The hotline offers women the opportunity to speak with a Yoetzet discreetly and anonymously.
Yoatzot Halacha are also accessed online through Nishmat’s website, www.yoatzot.org, which features 1,000 articles on taharat hamishpacha, as well as some of the 350,000 questions that women have asked Yoatzot Halacha in the past 18 years.
Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center educates Yoatzot Halacha in the United States, works with synagogues and communities seeking to hire a Yoetzet, and provides continuing education for Yoatzot. Since 2013, 12 Yoatzot Halacha have completed Nishmat’s U.S. program.
For further information, call the hotline at 1-877-963-8938 (1-877-YOETZET), or visit www.yoatzot.org. The hotline number is generously donated by IDT Corporation.
For a list of Yoatzot in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom please visit http://yoatzot.org/contact/default.asp?id=615. Yoatzot services are made possible through the generosity of private donations. To help make these invaluable services available to thousands of women, please visit www.yoatzot.org or call Nishmat’s office at 646-378-5895.
