(Courtesy of NISHMAT) Yoetzet Halacha Dr. Julia Baruch will receive the prestigious Miriam Glaubach Center Award for Excellence on Wednesday evening, June 7 at Nishmat’s gala at Guastavino’s in Manhattan. Sandy and Jerry Seligsohn will accept the Founders Award; Rose Gerszberg and Linda Goldenberg Mayman will be guests of honor.
Dr. Baruch has been the yoetzet halacha at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun since 2016. Julia is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Yeshiva University Counseling Center, where she provides weekly therapy for students at YU’s various undergraduate and graduate schools. Julia received her MA and PsyD in clinical psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Julia completed her certification as a yoetzet halacha in the second graduating class of Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center’s U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Fellows Program. She and her husband, David, live in Englewood with their five children.
Rose Gerszberg was raised in Lakewood amid a large community of Holocaust survivors. Rose has been a lifelong advocate for Jewish education, including its accessibility and growth. With a graduate degree in corporate and organizational communication, Rose served as development officer for AFN, a role in which she built awareness and fostered engagement in the mission of Nishmat across American Jewish communities. She continues her commitment as an AFN board member and as a governor in the Nishmat International Board of Governors. Rose is a trustee for TIKVA Children’s Homes (Ukraine and Romania), participated as an interviewer in the Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and chaired the annual Holocaust Commemoration of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Teaneck. Rose has eight children—the four she raised and each of their spouses. Their children are the “dividends” from her most precious investment.
When Nishmat was founded by Rabbanit Chana Henkin in 1990, it was Linda Goldenberg Mayman who brought Nishmat to Los Angeles and developed the support base to open the highest reaches of Torah learning to women. Linda spent many years as an attorney for the California State University and College. Together with her husband, Bob, she raised three remarkable children: Nishmat board member Elisabeth, David and Rachel. Her lifelong passion for Jewish education propelled her to serve in various leadership positions, including as president of the Los Angeles BJE (Builders of Jewish Education) from 1990-1992, and president of the Westwood Village Synagogue.
Sandy and Jerry Seligsohn supported Rabbanit Chana Henkin’s early vision of what Nishmat would be. The first time Sandy met Rabbinit Chana Henkin was at a shiur in 1990 at a home in New Rochelle. As an educator and guidance counselor, Sandy was very impressed with and inspired by Chana’s passion and knowledge of Gemara and Tanach. Thus began their relationship; Sandy along with her husband, Jerry sought out to cultivate a raising awareness of the importance of women’s Torah learning, including Gemara at the highest levels. At a young age, their daughter, Lisa, was thus inspired and ultimately became a Judaic studies high school teacher, a rebbetzin, and amongst the first graduating class of Yoatzot Halacha in America. Sandy and Jerry are the proud parents of Lisa {Rabbi Yehuda} Septimus and Daniel {Daniella) Seligsohn.
Nishmat, the Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, offers Torah study for women at multiple levels. To sign up for the gala or to make a reservation: www.afnishmat.org/gala.
