Meet Our Staff
Rabbi Manis Friedman
RABBI MANIS FRIEDMAN is a gifted educator, internationally acclaimed lecturer, social philosopher, author and counselor. Friedman upends our assumptions about spirituality and G-d, and gives participants a deeper perspective on their most important relationships, guiding them to long-term, healthy ones. He is a master at putting our Divine mission and purpose within reach, no matter how challenging the personal circumstances are.
Friedman has over forty years experience in the classroom and on the lecture floor, a profound knowledge of the soul and psyche, and a crystal-clear perspective on life today, much of it garnered from the many thousands of women he’s counseled at Bais Chana retreats and around the world.
Following the publication of his first book, Friedman was featured internationally in over 200 print articles, and interviewed on more than 50 television and radio talk shows. He has appeared on CNN, A&E Reviews, PBS, and BBC Worldwide, and has been the subject of articles in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, Guideposts, Insight, Publisher’s Weekly and others. His speaking tours take him to every part of the United States as well as Israel, England, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and all over Latin America.
Videos of Friedman teaching and replying to viewers questions are seen by many thousands every month on popular websites such as chabad.org and youtube. Check out Rabbi Friedman’s website itsgoodtoknow.org
Itty Kay
ITTY KAY is a passionate teacher who helps you bring the spiritual concepts you need into your life right now. Jump into the deep end of Jewish learning as Kay cracks open the Chassidic holy books with enthusiasm, peels back layers of superficiality and lets you peek at the world and yourself through the eyes of the Chassidic Masters.
Kay is the force behind Bais Chana's weekly online classes. Join her by signing up at here.
Freidy Yanover
FREIDY YANOVER is a brilliant and engaging teacher, not one to shy away from some of the toughest material in the canon of Chassidic and Kabbalistic writings. She’s also down to earth, very practical and wants to help you live the things you learn. Yanover is an EFT practitioner and certified life coach for individuals, couples and families. Widowhood as a young mother introduced her to the challenges and art of single parenting.
Watch Yanover give a class called, “From Fury to Forgiveness,” at a Bais Chana retreat for women in the Berkshire Mountains.
Katherine Salzberg
KATHERINE SALZBERG is a parent coach committed to helping you raise resilient, capable, and compassionate children who listen to you the first time. Before becoming a coach, Katherine was an anxious and exasperated mom struggling with tantrums, backtalk, hitting, sleep issues, and more. Despite seeking help from experts, things were getting worse, not better. She found a solution and has been assisting moms since 2011 to do the same.
Katherine is also an actress. Between a short-lived sitcom that lasted as long as a Middle East peace agreement, some roles in between, and a current one-person show called "Neurotic Shabbat," she hopes to keep you engaged while making parenting easier for you.
Ingrid Chana Aria
INGRID CHANA ARIA is a natural connector of dots, building community, bringing the big picture into the small details and inspiring others to remember their Soul amidst the day-to-day. Additionally, Ingrid brings nearly two decades of somatic embodiment expertise, rewiring old stress patterns to experience more spaciousness, possibility and spirituality within the body. In her free time, you'll find her in nature, in prayer, in art-making.
Aarah Aizman
AARAH AIZMAN grew up among successful artisans - painters, inventors, musicians, scientists, master gardeners and writers, and feels that artful living is best kept natural, and unschooled if possible. She began her professional art career doing commissioned ketubot in the 80’s and started teaching K-8 in the 90’s.
Aizman sets up safe studio environments that ensure a positive and honest encounter in art making. At a minimum, her students “get their feet and brushes wet” and use art to relax. Beyond that, Aizman coaches her students through an art making experience that can awaken an innate sensibility regarding life, relationships and choices. A studio experience in a retreat setting helps bring the lessons culled in class and group sessions into a personal space, making it all relevant.
Aizman is on the board of directors for the Minneapolis Jewish Family and Children's Service, and serves on the advisory committee for the Jewish Domestic Abuse Council.
Hinda Leah Sharfstein is the Executive Director of Bais Chana Women International. She’s a Bais Chana alumna, a UPenn dropout enrolled in the school of life, and an information junkie who reads and dreams extensively; it’s a wonder she gets any work done at all.
Sara Leah Krinsky is from Perth, Australia, and went to West Australian Institute of Technology where she insists she studied nothing of any value for her job at Bais Chana. She’s our design person for digital, print, and everything else that needs prettying up; takes care of accounts; and does a whole lot of other things that need getting done.