Exhilarated! That’s how we feel when a group of 20, 30, or 40 students walk out the door of the Paula Brody & Family Education Center at the conclusion of one of our 115+ programs each year. We love opening up minds about what mikveh can be, changing long-held opinions, and engaging in spirited discussions. […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Acting Executive Director A few weeks ago, I had the honor of representing Mayyim Hayyim at Slingshot Day in New York. Recognized as one of their “Standard Bearers” for ongoing innovation, impact, strong leadership, and organizational efficacy, Mayyim Hayyim is in good company with other fabulous organizations. Slingshot convened representatives from each of […]
Continue ReadingBy Judi and Maya Goldberg My five-year old daughter, Maya, and I met “Mikveh Lisa” (Lisa Berman, Mayyim Hayyim Education Center Director) at Temple Shalom. We participated in our first immersion at Mayyim Hayyim about six months ago. Maya and I both love going to the mikveh, but for very different reasons. I love going […]
Continue ReadingBy Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Calm is not typically a word I would use to describe myself; I’m loud, energetic, busy and have two small boys. I have almost always worked at more than one job at a time, and, for much of my life, have been looking around the corner to see […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Rabbi Daniel Brenner At a conference on a ridiculously sunny spring day at New York University, I met a Jewish guy in his thirties who was planning on getting hitched this summer. When he heard that I was the director of a project focused on the lives of boys and men in the […]
Continue ReadingWritten By Aliza Kline, Founding Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim About 10 days ago I had the opportunity to teach about Mayyim Hayyim to first-year students at the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College. I love teaching seminary students; they are eager to learn and find connections between their personal spiritual journey and Jewish practice. […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Alissa Golbus, Cohort Seven Mikveh Guide In spite of myself, I started to become a mother the moment I said the shehecheyanu after seeing the faint positive sign appear on the pregnancy test. I knew that not all planned first pregnancies end with you holding your baby in your arms, but they do […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Amy Chartock, National Programs Director Have you ever been to a mikveh with an art gallery? If Mayyim Hayyim were only a kosher mikveh, a warm, welcoming space that is gladdening to the eye, dayenu, it would be enough! But we don’t stop there. Why not adorn the walls with rotating […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Rabbi Haviva Ner-David At the newly-revived religiously and socially progressive Kibbutz Hannaton in Lower Galilee, a tradition has evolved to hold a women’s circle at our mikveh for each woman a few weeks before she is due to give birth. Thankfully, we have located on our kibbutz a unique mikveh in the Israeli […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Acting Executive Director When I first saw the headlines about Anne Frank’s posthumous baptism, I thought it odd, to say the least. Days later, the news came about Daniel Pearl. Thankfully the Mormon Church later released this letter clarifying its policy that such baptisms by proxy should not include names from certain […]
Continue ReadingBy Rabbi Matthew Berger, Rabbi at Temple Emanuel On December 22, 2011, the 2nd day of Hanukkah, I accompanied two of my conversion students, Leonarda and Zechariah, to Mayyim Hayyim for their Beit Din (court of three) and T’vilah (immersion). This remarkable couple, originally from Puerto Rico, chose to convert to Judaism together – a […]
Continue ReadingMayyim Hayyim is pleased to offer its successful program, “Beyond the Huppah: Creating the Jewish Marriage You Want” beginning this Sunday, March 4 (a few spots still remain!). Enjoy this reprint of a blog post from the program’s facilitator, Judy Elkin, describing one of the remarkably insightful exercises she employs in the program to help couples relate […]
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