My name is Taylor Stokes, now Tovah Ilona, and this year I had the honor of immersing at Mayyim Hayyim to mark my conversion to Judaism. This transformative experience was not just the culmination of my spiritual journey — it was the moment I felt truly at home in the Jewish community. In a time […]
Continue Readingby Nina B. Lichtenstein As a convert to Judaism, I have always said that “doing Jewish” is how my chosen identity anchored and deepened itself, and it has helped explain (to myself) why I embraced so fervently (relatively speaking) the laws of Shabbat, kashrut, and taharat ha-mishpacha (the laws of family purity). These three pillars […]
Continue Readingby Elizabeth Eggert, Administrative and Marketing Assistant A few weeks ago, I got a call around 9:15, just a few minutes after I’d sat down at my desk with my cup of coffee, ready for the day. It was the administrator at a local synagogue, whose clergy were accompanying a woman to Mayyim Hayyim later […]
Continue ReadingOriginally posted February 1, 2017 by Cantor Louise Egbert Treitman I converted to Judaism almost 45 years ago and have been immersed in the Jewish world ever since. I was still in college when I began studying with my sponsoring rabbi, went to the mikveh, converted, and got married. But what happens when you get out of […]
Continue Readingby Al Reitz It was fall the first time I asked my mom if I looked handsome, about halfway through my process of becoming Jewish. It’s hard to forget a moment like that—something shifts. I had my chin up high, my button-down shirt layered under a leather jacket. I wasn’t sold on the word quite […]
Continue Readingby Gina Garda Faith without rationale is the basis of religion. And so it began when my son Michael, at 12, came to me and said he wanted to be Jewish. At first, I thought Michael’s interest in Judaism might pass, as was the case with fencing and acting. However, Michael was insistent. I called […]
Continue Readingby Jim Billings, Mikveh Guide It is finished, and it has begun! Over 30 years ago, I converted to Judaism. I would eventually marry a Jewish woman, and raise a Jewish family. My rabbi was not “into” the ritual of mikveh as part of the conversion process, so I never immersed to complete my conversion, as […]
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 Jo Radner They knew, those old rabbis, that the rod of Moses did not part the sea. No magic wand could wrench generations from the narrow places, hauling Egyptian rocks, tilling Egyptian soil, pounding Egyptian laundry by the river. Never mind the straggling, befuddled exiles, never mind the hurtling chariots – That brimming sea […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director I became a Jew (by choice) in December, 1980. I’ve been Jewish for 36 years — so long that many who know me don’t realize I wasn’t always Jewish. My observance, knowledge, and confidence about Judaism has grown each year. But, to be honest, for most of those […]
Continue Readingby Rene Katersky, Mikveh Guide As I approach another significant birthday, one ending in “0” (aren’t they all significant at this age?), I have been thinking a lot about the self-imposed benefits of turning another year older. I am mindful of my desire to say “no” more often…no to things I no longer feel passionate […]
Continue ReadingReposted by Mayyim Hayyim in recognition of the recent launch of “Now What?,” a post-conversion curriculum for new Jews and their partners now available for your community! by Cantor Louise Egbert Treitman I converted to Judaism almost 45 years ago and have been immersed in the Jewish world ever since. I was still in college when […]
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