by Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Every summer at camp there would be some new rule or some change that would seem to have dramatic and life-altering consequences. A schedule change (but we always swim after sports!), a favorite food item discontinued (but we always have purple bug juice at lunch!), a curfew made […]
Continue Readingby Katherine Trakhtenbroit I hail from a land currently crisped by drought. There are great stretches of live oak trees and loblolly pines along the bayou; when I was small they were thick with glossy leaves and pungent needles. Now, it’s all orange and brown and parched. So, down there, we know deeply the transformative […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein Today is one of my favorite days of the year at Mayyim Hayyim: the day we put the honey sticks next to our front door in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah. Usually I hold off – waiting until the world’s birthday arrives to reunite my apple with its honey. But today… let’s just […]
Continue Readingby Stephan Lewy I was born in Berlin, Germany, and had a Protestant mother and a Jewish father. My parents agreed that a boy would be raised Jewish and a girl, Protestant. My birth was in a Jewish hospital, which still exists today. If both of my parents had been Jewish, my life would not […]
Continue Readingby Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator My children came home from camp last week after being gone for seven weeks. The first day, my 13 year-old daughter, Talia, took to her bed. Itouch in hand, she spent the day crying, listening to music and facebooking with friends that she just left that morning. She […]
Continue ReadingBy Ron and Brian Olshansky-Lucero Mayyim Hayyim has been an important part of our lives for the last two years. Our connection to Mayyim Hayyim began with Ron’s beit din and immersion for his conversion. We were very blessed that Ron’s sponsoring rabbi knew about Mayyim Hayyim and that he chose this special place for […]
Continue ReadingBy Nina Cecily Stewart, Mayyim Hayyim Administrative Assistant I first realized I loved Mayyim Hayyim when, after my first week on the job, I called my dad and spent five minutes waxing rhapsodic about calling mikveh guides, scheduling appointments, and printing immersion forms. When I finally noticed the silence on the other end of the […]
Continue ReadingBy Rabbi Jenny Solomon Shehehiyanu, v’kiyamanu, v’higiyanu lazman ha’zeh! (Thank you, God, for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this day!) It is almost unfathomable to me that just a year ago we opened our doors and our waters to the Jewish community. Living in a relatively small Jewish community in […]
Continue ReadingBy Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director Outgoing voicemail message re-recorded: check. Email signature reflecting new title: check. Business cards, name tag: check, check. Facebook status updated for first day on the job… now it must be real. The number one question I’ve received recently is, “So, what’s next for Mayyim Hayyim? Are you going to make […]
Continue ReadingBy Hannah White I have long dreamt of my first dip in the mikveh. When I interned at Mayyim Hayyim a few years ago, I often found myself pausing in the midst of a project to listen to the joyful sounds coming from downstairs. It was as if the singing floated up to the offices, […]
Continue Readingby Aliza Kline, Mayyim Hayyim’s Founding Executive Director So… my last blog post as executive director of Mayyim Hayyim. I feel as though I have been treading water for the past few weeks, just keeping my head high enough to breathe. Though I’ve been directing an organization totally immersed in marking transitions for 11 years, […]
Continue ReadingBy Rabbi Margaret Frisch-Klein Mayyim Hayyim saved my life. That is not hyperbole. Mikveh was not unknown to me. I love the water and it is a medium that spoke to me. Before Mayyim Hayyim was even thought of, based on Anita Diamant’s New Jewish Wedding Book, I planned to immerse for my wedding at […]
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