Rabbanit Chana Henkin: Advancing women as Jewish law authorities

Rabbanit Chana Henkin is the founder and dean of Nishmat, a midrasha for women of all backgrounds. From her home in Jerusalem and the Nishmat campus south of Katamon, she has helped advance the role of women in halachic leadership and created the role of yoetzet halacha.

What inspired you to create the role of yoetzet halacha?

Married to a rabbi for decades, I was involved in teaching women Torah and mishpacha  –  the experience I had melded with my own love of and commitment to Torah learning. To be a member of the Henkin family, you had to be involved in Halacha. It’s the lingua franca in our home. For years, I thought it was inappropriate on so many levels that there wasn’t a woman at the junction of Halacha, medicine, and women’s intimate lives. It hadn’t made sense to me through the years.

We didn’t expect it to take off as it did. I knew about the need, but did I realize that the moment we graduated yoatzot halacha that they’d be deluged with questions? No.

What’s a memorable story from your time with the program?

While we weren’t hiding anything at the time, we weren’t talking about it. The idea was that we would graduate the yoatzot and see what happens. The night of the certification of the first group, we had a very small festive occasion at what was then the Plaza Hotel, for the families of those who were gathering. A Jerusalem Post columnist who happened to be there strolled into the room after she heard English. She walked over to one of the first two women who had completed their exams and asked for their phone numbers.

The next day, the columnist published an article and included the two numbers, saying “Save these numbers, they will save your marriage.” The two women were quickly flooded with calls from women. That is what led us to establish the hotline. Now we’re 400,000 questions later – over the hotline and website in more than four languages.

How many yoatzot halacha do you have?

We have 170-something active yoatzot halacha in Israel and the United States. In the US, they’re in 50 different institutions. There are also ones who are employed in different congregations in the US and Britain. In Israel, we have women working on the hotline. The notion has gained traction throughout the Jewish world. I think we’ve been successful in building a rabbinic consensus about this.

Tell me about the hotline.

These women aren’t volunteers but paid professionals. Before the war, we’d get 30 to 35 questions a week. Since then, we’ve gotten 50 a week or so. When you think of a hotline, you think of first responders, and then the question going to the experts. But that’s not what we do. You’re getting the professionals when you call.

What else does Nishmat do to advance women’s leadership in Halacha?

We published the first book of teshuvot (responsa) written by women. For the past thousand years, halachic literature flowed through the channel of responsa, where Halacha is alive and pulsating. For the longest time, women were never part of that world. Our first volume premiered five years ago, and we’re now almost finished with our second one. I’m the editor, and I am also one of the writers.

We also have a kollel for women who will probably find places in educational leadership, but not just. There’s a new field, rabbaniot beit sefer (school halachic authorities). Previously there were only positions like this for men, but now they have for women, too. And there’s a need for more women like this.

What is your Oct. 7 story?

Running an institution, teachers were called up; almost all the husbands of the kollel women were called up.

My first big job was to bring students back to campus. I think we were one of the first to open when the war started. We were reduced to a skeleton staff, and the kollel was especially hard to bring back.

We also started right away praying for our soldiers and hostages and organized huge amounts of volunteering. Even students from abroad were fully integrated.

The spirit is strong, but the spirits of these women are amazing. ■