May 2023 / Iyar 5783 Dear friend,This Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about my role as a parent and reflecting on my surrogacy in 2017. It was an experience filled with many wonders and unknowns. That year I marked half a decade leading Mayyim Hayyim. In those years and the many before them as a staff member and Mikveh Guide, I […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director My favorite holiday starts in just a few days. Purim, our most fun, upbeat, and irreverent holiday, is one that I take very seriously. I love creating themed homemade costumes for my family, coordinating the mishloach manot food gifts with our costumes and then eating all the goodies that come […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director The Mayyim Hayyim community has lost a beloved teacher as Cookie Rosenbaum, zichrona l’vracha (may her memory be a blessing), has passed away. Cookie was one of my first teachers at Mayyim Hayyim. When I trained to become a volunteer Mikveh Guide in 2006, she taught, “Preparation, Niddah, and Bridal […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director I’m getting on a plane today to fly (in reality) to Baltimore, but it actually feels a little more like Never Neverland. You see, six of us from the Mayyim Hayyim community are going to meet up with 35 leaders from around the country for three days for the Rising […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director For those of you on Mayyim Hayyim’s email list, you likely saw the message we shared last month that it appears the organization has been the victim of financial improprieties by a former staff person. While we are still working with forensic accountants to determine the exact extent and duration […]
Continue ReadingIn honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, we are reminded of Carrie’s brave decision to help a Jewish couple begin their family by becoming a gestational surrogate. Enjoy a glimpse into her journey and keep your eyes open for Mayyim Hayyim’s Fertility Journeys: A Jewish Healing Guide – coming soon! By Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director Life […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director “Just raise your hand if you need an extra blanket,” my restorative yoga teacher said slowly, “or another block, or maybe some hands-on support. I’m here to spoil you rotten tonight, if there’s anything at all that you need.” “What would you like to order? Let’s start here: What do […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director Exactly ten years ago this week, I walked in to Mayyim Hayyim for my first day on the job. I was hired to be the Mikveh Center Director, the organization’s first full-time professional other than Aliza Kline, the founding director. My hair was a lot longer, I’d been a mother for […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director The last time I wrote for this blog I was preparing to deliver a baby as a gestational surrogate, for a Jewish couple from London. So, yeah… that happened. On September 28, 2017 I delivered a 6 lb., 10 oz. baby girl – you can read the whole birth story […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director Mayyim Hayyim is the home of new beginnings. After ten years of working at Mayyim Hayyim, I’ve seen a lot of joyful celebration. But I’ve seen a great deal of heartache, too: couples mourning miscarriage, grieving after stillbirth, weeping after failed IVF cycles, immersing month after month, trying to conceive. […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director When Mayyim Hayyim was born in 2001, the world was a very different place. The internet certainly was, too. Most Americans, in fact, didn’t even have internet access and if they did, they connected via dial-up. (Go ahead and click here to relive the memories.) Mayyim Hayyim launched its very […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein Last week, Carrie shared these words as she was honored at Mayyim Hayyim’s spring benefit, Soul/Life/Cycle: My first job interview at Mayyim Hayyim was exactly ten years ago this Thursday; less than 48 hours before Eliana was born. At the time I couldn’t decide how I felt about doing a 9th month […]
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