by Susan Morrel, Jewish Educator for Mayyim Hayyim’s “Water Wonders” I am often astounded by the questions early elementary school children ask. They are so full of wonder and curiosity, seeing the world through a lens of awe, fascination, and joy. Not surprisingly, they love to learn about the natural world, particularly water, a mysterious and […]
Continue Readingby Elyse Shuster I recently returned from a trip to southern Spain and Morocco. Part of the appeal of this region was its rich Jewish history, and I was definitely not disappointed! While much of the Jewish history in Spain is the story of a “golden age” cut short by the expulsion of the Jews […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Bernstein I had been preparing for my first immersion for eight years. I didn’t know exactly when it would be, but I could guess why it would be. The first eight times I had visited Mayyim Hayyim, I went in my capacity as Academic Adviser for the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute summer internship. I brought […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director The wind swirls today. Is it here to strip us of our unwanted bits, to smooth our testy edges, to burnish the gems in our souls? It bends the trees, branches, and bowed heads. Can it bend us to our own wills, to release our pains, to emerge […]
Continue Readingby Kelly Banker My monthly immersions have been interrupted, and their absence is showing up everywhere I turn. Each immersion felt like a suspension of time; a breath of new life into each month. This summer, though, I was living in western Massachusetts and only recently returned, and have not had the time to immerse […]
Continue Readingby Nate Vaughan Last year, around this time, I immersed at Mayyim Hayyim for the first time, in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. Ever since I first heard about Mayyim Hayyim, I’ve listened to many people speak about their immersion experiences. In part, those stories led me to immerse. But this isn’t a story about the incredibly meaningful […]
Continue ReadingOctober 2016/ Tishrei 5777 Enough with the hand-wringing about the Jewish future. The kids are all right—and then some. You want proof? Listen to Mayyim Hayyim’s young visitors. Listen to Ira, who immersed before his bar mitzvah: This has been one of the most meaningful, spiritual, serene, and overall amazing experiences I’ve […]
Continue ReadingI thought I would take a stab at an interview-style blog post about the Beneath the Surface class I took with my 12-year old daughter, Elliana. Ceceley: Do you want to write a blog post with me about the Beneath the Surface class we took at Mayyim Hayyim? Elliana: No, I don’t remember it. Ceceley: […]
Continue Readingby Daniela Ovadia I bumped into Mayyim Hayyim almost by chance: I was in Boston last summer and I wanted to understand more about the Jewish life in the US. I am from Italy, where my parents arrived from Egypt in the 60’s. I married a non-Jewish man, but we have a Jewish family. Both […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving There are definitely quirks about working in a building that is centuries old. Oftentimes, no two rooms are the same temperature. Once, running a microwave knocked out the power on the third floor. But my favorite quirk is the way sound travels in this old house. Whenever there is […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant I grew up in a very traditional Conservative-with-a-capital-C Jewish household: Shabbos every week, day school, Camp Ramah, USY, study abroad in Israel – the whole megillah. All of this exposure, (or immersion as we like to say) into Jewish life had given me what I thought was a […]
Continue ReadingBy Nora Smolonsky *This post originally appeared in Fresh Ideas from HBI, the blog of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. As someone who is not a practicing Jew, I felt reservations before going to Mayyim Hayyim, a mikveh in Newton, MA. To be honest, I was not entirely sure what a mikveh was. I was worried that […]
Continue ReadingSearch
