Bring the tough conversations to the table

For many Jewish couples, the desire to have children isn’t just personal, it’s rooted in one of the oldest commandments, “Be fruitful and multiply”. But what happens when nature doesn’t cooperate? Increasingly, the answer involves science, guided by religion.

Around one in six Australian couples experience infertility and one in four pregnancies ends in loss. For Jewish couples, the path to IVF comes with an extra layer of complexity. Enter what’s affectionately been dubbed “Kosher IVF.”

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman fields fertility questions from Jewish couples around the globe, daily.

Ulman is a senior member of the Sydney Beth Din and one of the foremost rabbinical experts on fertility internationally. He developed a world-first protocol authorising the use of IVF within halachic boundaries. The protocol is now used across many countries. Since then, he has spent decades navigating very deep, yet very practical questions. Questions like, how does an observant couple observe Shabbat while timing IVF procedures? How do family purity laws interact with the medical demands of ovulation?

Over the past 30 years, Rabbi Ulman has seen thousands of Jewish babies born through fertility treatments guided by Jewish law. So what does the work actually look like? It’s a network of mashgichim overseeing IVF procedures, egg and sperm retrieval, and embryo creation and implantation. At every stage, sperm, eggs, and embryos must remain either within the supervisor’s line of sight or sealed. A female-trained supervisor specifically oversees egg pickup and embryo transfer.