This post originally appeared on The Jewish Week’s “The New Normal: Blogging Disability“ by Carrie Bornstein Larry had a problem. It was the winter of 2004 and he’d spent years dreaming of becoming a Jew. Following many months of formal study he was ready to go before the beit din, the group of […]
Continue Readingby Anita Diamant, Mayyim Hayyim Founding President This post was originally featured on Anita’s personal blog Thinking Out Loud Today, I was given two great honors by Hebrew College in Newton, MA: awarded an honorary doctorate and asked to address the graduating class of educators, cantors and rabbis. Here’s what I said: Hebrew College Commencement […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, Intern I can’t believe that my year of interning at Mayyim Hayyim has come to a close. In many ways, the experience of working here has been a mikveh in and of itself, as it has helped me transition from one state to another: from college grad to rabbinical student. I have […]
Continue Readingby Benjamin Maron, Mikveh Guide In many ways, my work has been about the people at the fringes of our communities, those outside looking in. I’ve worked in social services, ran youth outreach groups, and started interfaith dialogue groups between Muslim and Jewish students on a too volatile campus. I spend my days at InterfaithFamily, […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, intern There is a very popular urban legend that an elderly male rabbi once stood up at synagogue and, addressing a female presenter, said “A woman belongs on the bima like an orange belongs on a seder plate.” From that day forward, women everywhere have been placing oranges on their seder plates […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Lev Baesh Twice now, I have had the pleasure of celebrating weddings at Mayyim Hayyim, immediately following conversion with a Beit Din and immersion. The first couple came from Canada with parents and a brother. I had worked with her toward conversion via Skype and they wanted to complete her conversion at the […]
Continue Readingby Allison Poirier Last week, on a very cold and wintry Friday morning I left my apartment in Morningside Heights to catch the subway to 74th street. I was on my way to the Upper West Side Mikveh. Along with six other women, I was on my way to a field trip planned as part […]
Continue Readingby Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator One of the things that I love about working at Mayyim Hayyim is attending meetings. I’ve been working in the Jewish community for 23 years and every agency runs meetings differently. It’s very common at Jewish Board Meetings to start with a D’var Torah (words of Torah) and […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Pamela Jay Gottfried I was delighted when Rabbi Joe Brodie, the Dean of Student Life and father figure to many of us at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), agreed to officiate at my wedding. I was also anxious. Like my future spouse, Joe was fairly traditional about ritual observance, and I was embarrassed […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Education Center Director Makom kadosh. Holy space. It is what we try to create here at Mayyim Hayyim. We refer to the process as “intentional design” – the highly focused, carefully thought out selection of everything physical at Mayyim Hayyim. In our “Principles of Common Purpose,” we describe our principle of hiddur mitzvah […]
Continue Readingby Sue Horowitz This November, I had the honor of debuting a song at Mayyim Hayyim‘s Tapestry: Choosing a Jewish Life event. The song, “Here I Am” was written for the ritual of conversion to Judaism. I am a singer-songwriter, frequently reinterpreting texts, psalms, prayers and Jewish ethics. I am lucky to have a writing […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein I have a confession to make, right up front. I’ve never been to Nordstrom’s. But from what I’ve heard, I imagine it to be the Mecca of department stores. (Okay, I’ve never been to Mecca, either, so let me quit while I’m ahead.) The image I have of Nordstrom’s is of bright lights, clean displays, […]
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