About Us
Nishmat Leadership

Nishmat's faculty encourages students to question and to debate the issues important to them. Inspiring role models, Nishmat rabbis and teachers help you along the challenging path to authentic Torah-observance in the modern world.

Rabbanit Chana Henkin, Rosh Hamidrasha

Rabbanit Chana Henkin, founder and Dean of Nishmat the Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Jerusalem, is one of today’s most acclaimed Jewish educators and a leader in re-drawing the landscape of Torah leadership and scholarship for women. Together with her husband, noted halachic authority Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, Rabbanit Henkin created the unique role of Yoatzot Halacha, experts in women’s health and Jewish law, who have since addressed more than 300,000 halachic questions from across the world. 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 and Yeshiva University, and was awarded Israel’s prestigious Agrest Prize for innovative religious education. The Henkins made Aliyah in 1972 and live in Jerusalem.

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Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, Halachic Authority for Nishmat

Rabbi Yehuda Henkin is the author of three volumes of halachic questions and answers, Bnei Banim, the Torah commentary Chibah Yeteirah, and more than a hundred articles in periodicals and journals. Born in the United States in 1945, he studied for six years with his grandfather, the famous posek Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, zt"l, from whom he received rabbinical semichah. He is also a graduate of Columbia University. Following his aliya to Israel in 1972, Rabbi Henkin served as the Rabbi of the Beit Shean Valley prior to moving to Jerusalem. Since its inception in 1990, Rav Henkin has been the Halachic Authority for Nishmat, including the Keren Ariel Yoatzot Halacha Training Program, Nishmat's Golda Koschitzky Women's Halachic Hotline, and www.yoatzot.org, Nishmat's Women's Health and Halacha Website.

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Rabanit Noa Lau, S’ganit Rosh Hamidrasha

Rabbanit Noa Lau, Associate Dean of Nishmat, is a Yoetzet Halacha and the Moshe and Charlotte Green Chair of Jewish Law at Nishmat. Rabbanit Lau is the Program Coordinator of Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Yoatzot Halacha Training Program. She has a Master’s degree in Tanach from Bar Ilan University and taught for many years at the Pelech School in Jerusalem.

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Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel,

Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel, Yoetzet Halacha, teaches Halacha and Talmud at Nishmat and is a veteran staff member on Nishmat’s Golda Koschitzky Women’s Halachic Hotline since being certified as a Yoetzet Halacha in 2004. Rachelle studied at Bar Ilan University, learned at Midreshet Lindenbaum and was in the first graduating class of Matan’s Talmudic Institute.

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Rav Da’vid Sperling, Rosh Beit Midrash

Rabbi Da’vid Sperling, Rosh Beit Midrash, was born in Sydney Australia. He studied at Yeshivat Machon Meir for several years, and then studied for over a decade at Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim under the tutelage of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner. Rabbi Sperling received advanced rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, as well as from Rabbi Yehuda Henkin. Rabbi Sperling has taught Halacha at Nishmat for many years, as well as at Yeshivat Machon Meir. He has published a wide range of halachic articles in journals and on the internet. Rabbi Sperling lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children.

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Dr Esti Bar-El, Director, Maayan Program for Ethiopian Women

Dr. Esti Bar-El directs the Nishmat Ethiopian Women (N.E.W.) Program. She holds a dual Bachelor’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Educational Administration and Jewish Philosophy with a certificate in "Machshavat Israel". She also holds both a Masters (Suma Cum Laude) and Doctorate from Bar Ilan University in Jewish Philosophy. She has taught and lectured at midrashoth and colleges around the country. She was a research fellow for social Justice at Bet Morasha, Jerusalem Leadership Institute. She was part of a fellowship for outstanding doctoral candidates at Bar Ilan University. In addition to teaching, she has served as the Central Region Coordinator of Family Life Studies for the Ministry of Education, and Director of "Seeds of Peace" which aims to encourage increasing tolerance between polarized groups in the population. Dr. Bar-El has two academic publications to her credit and four additional articles published. She received numerous awards. She is a mother of five, and lives in Peduel.

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