Excerpts from Keeping the Faith: How Compromise, Curiosity and Tradition Guide One Interfaith Family, by Abigail Mnookin Reflections before the mikveh: For my mom’s 70th birthday this month, my brother and I are giving her an unusual gift. Her four grandchildren will be immersed in a ritual bath, or mikveh, which symbolizes their conversion to […]
Continue Readingby Jenna Margolis I was little when my cousin converted to Judaism, but I distinctly remember watching my aunt hold her own breath as she released her new baby into the water. After several dunks in the Mayyim Hayyim mikveh, the child was Jewish, according to our rabbi. My family rejoiced, my aunt breathed again, […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving There are definitely quirks about working in a building that is centuries old. Oftentimes, no two rooms are the same temperature. Once, running a microwave knocked out the power on the third floor. But my favorite quirk is the way sound travels in this old house. Whenever there is […]
Continue Readingby Janine Herrera To understand why my immersion at Mayyim Hayyim was so transformative, one would first need to understand the journey I’ve been on. I made the decision to convert because the synagogue and community I belong to was inclusive, open, and committed to accepting everyone. They unabashedly embraced me as part of their community. […]
Continue Readingby Bonita Sussman This past May, a delegation organized by Kulanu, an organization that supports returning, emerging, and isolated Jewish communities around the world, journeyed to Madagascar. It was the culmination of a long process that brought Malagasys into the Jewish faith through conversion. After ascertaining that all the men in Madagascar who wanted to […]
Continue ReadingLisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director There is something inherently off-putting about saying you’re going to make a movie at a mikveh. Isn’t a mikveh a place where privacy is paramount? Where photography and exposure should not coexist? Yes, of course. So then why last month would a visit to Mayyim Hayyim have found it […]
Continue Readingby Yasmine Moideen My earliest memory is of being carried on my aunt’s back in a small stream in southern India. I was 4 years old. My 3 aunts, wading in, with their colorful saris floating in the water, laughing, taking turns with me on their backs, making sure I was safe. My parents, brother, […]
Continue Readingby Kythryne Aisling Before coming to Mayyim Hayyim, many people at Temple Beth Jacob had told me what an amazing place it was. As someone who lives with severe chronic pain, and who has a daughter with sensory processing issues, I wasn’t so sure how it would go. While the main reason for our visit was for my daughter and I to formally […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Jen Gubitz Liz wrote to me in an email and shared her excitement with her community on Facebook: “I’m going to Mayyim Hayyim today to immerse in honor of the one year anniversary of my conversion!” This is the type of note every rabbi dreams of: a woman like Liz who chooses to become […]
Continue Readingby Ashley Loc “The main difference is that hope is based on precedent, while faith is the strength to believe when there may never be proof.” Button-down shirt, slightly wrinkled pants, and a distinct hairline. With his almond-toe oxfords never ceasing to slam against the floor, my 8th grade History teacher is still worth remembering five years […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director Q: How do you know if you are succeeding at running a warm, welcoming, open-minded mikveh? A: You get a lot of really interesting phone calls and you love answering them. In my role as Mikveh (& Education) Director at Mayyim Hayyim, I love fielding calls because inevitably it […]
Continue Readingby Pamela Cole My first visit to Mayyim Hayyim was a beautiful May evening in 2014. I was on a ‘field trip’ with my Pathways to Judaism class and we were being introduced to what would mark the final step of our conversion process. It wasn’t the first time I had heard of Mayyim Hayyim, though. […]
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