Jofa Recent Media

By Hillary Kener RegelmanOne of the first mitzvot in the Torah is to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). In light of modern medicine, many rabbis today interpret the verse to ...

By Michal Raucher When people learn that I have conducted research on reproduction among ḥִaredi (ultra-Orthodox) women in Jerusalem, their first questions usually are: “Do they use birth control?” “Do ...

By Plonit Almonit“I hope you don’t resent.…”That’s what my boss said to me in the course of the discussion in which I was fired while still new on the job. ...

By Gail KatzThe typical pro-choice and anti-abortion positions in debate in American society today do not line up well with halakhic views on abortion. Halakhah never frames the issues in ...

High School Leadership Development Program On June 29, JOFA launched its first online High School Leadership Development Program. Over the course of this virtual three-week program, 26 young women from ...

By Elana FrankI have three rambunctious and adorable boys whom I love more than life itself. All were born via the miracle of in vitro fertilization (IVF), or, as my ...

By Daphne Lazar PricePublishing this issue of the JOFA Journal, which focuses on women’s health and reproductive issues, might seem out of touch amid a global pandemic, heightened racial tension, ...

By Rivka Cohen Growing up in a Modern Orthodox community, I did not encounter open or positive discourse about female sexuality. Besides the quick basics of reproduction covered in biology ...

America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to TodayBy Pamela S. NadellW.W. Norton, 2019, $28.95Pamela Nadell paints on a broad canvas—American Jewish women’s history—that has been employed before by ...

By David BigmanOver the past hundred years, as medical knowledge has advanced, it became clear that infertility was a problem among a small percentage of the halakhically observant population. Jewish ...

By Ruth Balinsky Friedman In March 2016, I decided to “go public” with my fertility journey. This decision was born mostly out of a lurking feeling of dishonesty. Ohev Sholom, ...

By Tricia Anbinder and Elana Frank A staggering one in eight couples will experience challenges in achieving and maintaining pregnancy. Some studies report that the number is closer to one ...

By Deborah Wenger Let me start by acknowledging my privilege. I am lucky to live in a temperate climate, where outdoor gatherings have not been out of the question for ...

By Barbara Trainin Blank Expectations don’t always tally with reality.COVID-19 may have closed mikva’ot for a time—or, at the very least, reduced their usage, as women feared becoming infected. In ...

By Stephanie L. Stillman My first encounter with the mikveh was at 27, when I met with my converting beit din for the last time. I had never seen the ...