Originally posted on January 18, 2017 by Cantor Sarah Bolts and Michael Chernicoff Sarah: I honestly didn’t know what to expect from a pre-marriage class. I grew up in the Orthodox community, where pre-marriage classes came in the form of “kallah (bride) classes” in which a bride would learn about the laws of niddah (regular separation […]
Continue Readingby Ev Bastow In August of this year, I had the unique experience of visiting Mayyim Hayyim. I cannot talk about that encounter without telling about the life events that led up to that memorable day. I was born and raised in New York City and grew up in a mostly unobservant home. Except for […]
Continue Readingby Cantor Jeri Robins The start of a new year – whether Rosh Hashanah or the school year – is always an opportunity to reflect on the past and look toward the future. One of the things I most look forward to at this time is visiting Mayyim Hayyim. I have been to Mayyim Hayyim […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director Mikveh Guides: The Face of Mayyim Hayyim These women and these men have much to teach, But their pleasure is to learn and serve, Stepping forward or stepping back, Attending to the need, joyful or tearful, Face to face. –Anita Diamant More than 13 years ago, a few […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Tali Kaplan An invitation and an ode: a rabbinical student’s thoughts on and encouragement to join Mayyim Hayyim for Knocking at Our Hearts, a High Holiday musical workshop with Joey Weisenberg, on September 10 at 3:30PM. water and music are healing to immerse and be immersed surrounded enveloped both mediums allow me to […]
Continue Readingby Kim Creem This past May was my daughter Lily’s Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in Newton, where we have been members for over 15 years. She had been at Temple Emanuel for both preschool and Hebrew school and was completing her last year at Makor at Hebrew College in the spring. Over the years, […]
Continue ReadingReposted with permission from Fresh Ideas from HBI: The Hadassah Brandeis Institute Blog by Elana Luban When I first heard about the annual Gilda Slifka summer intern’s trip to Mayyim Hayyim, I wasn’t quite sure what could be groundbreaking or ideologically feminist about a mikveh. My first two mikveh trips shaped my life and my […]
Continue Readingby Phyllis Hirth Here’s my timeline, short and sweet: I was born in Connecticut, raised as a Catholic, moved to New York after college, met my husband, and married into a Conservative Jewish family. My first experience with mikveh was during my own conversion to Judaism. My memory of that is less than pleasant. A woman […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving I once learned a quirky little fact about mikveh: if there is a shortage of rainfall to provide the necessary natural water in the bor (the outdoor water collection that “kisses,” or touches, the clean tap water inside) you can use ice. During the melting process, the transition […]
Continue Readingby Andrew Wofford When my Rabbi suggested that I immerse in the mikveh to mark my graduation from college, I was rather confused and somewhat hesitant. I had known of the mikveh only as a formality, an obligatory element of the conversion process. As the son of a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother, I […]
Continue Readingby Shira Cohen-Goldberg, Board Member Where are we going, Momma? To a special program, just you and me. What is the program? We are going to learn about water and a special place in our community called Mayyim Hayyim. What does Mayyim Hayyim mean? Is that Hebrew? What are we going to do there? Can […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Mara Young “I didn’t expect this experience to move me as much as it did.” This was the refrain from my fellow travelers as they boarded our bus back to New York. Just a month ago, I had the pleasure of spending 48 hours in Boston with members of my congregation. Mayyim Hayyim […]
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