by Jessica Alpert Before my surgery in March, I prepared in many ways. I sent emails. I wrapped up projects. I froze food. I finished putting together so many photo albums. I wrote letters to people and told them how I felt. Yes this may have been slightly dramatic but I was having open heart […]
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 Pamela Rosenblum I experienced my first mikveh immersion 25 years ago when I became a member of the Jewish People. It felt profound and transformational. It was many years before I had the opportunity to immerse again when, prior to the high holidays, my Rabbi introduced a small group of women to ImmerseNYC, a […]
Continue ReadingSeptember 2021 / Tishrei 5782 Dear friend, It’s been a long, hard pandemic. We asked each other, “What’s the first thing you’ll do once you’re vaccinated?” For me, the first thing I needed to do was immerse at Mayyim Hayyim. Lockdown overlapped with the year of mourning for my beloved Abba, my father. It wasn’t until May of this year that I felt ready to go to Mayyim Hayyim. I went in the water bearing the compounded pain of that […]
Continue ReadingBy Dr. Max Klau In the early days after the 2016 election, I made myself a vow to immerse in the mikveh when the time came to mark the end of his administration. In late January 2021—about a week after the inauguration—I made it happen. I spent a good long time floating in the warm […]
Continue Readingby Dr. Gail Levine-Fried My mother first brought my sister and I to the water as children growing up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She loved swimming and the ocean, and took us to swimming pools, public and private, in parts of Brooklyn far from our neighborhood. Mom didn’t drive a car, but she schlepped us […]
Continue Readingby Rosa Blumenfeld I am the daughter of a mother who was born during La Violencia, the Colombian civil war so bloody it was simply called ‘The Violence,’ and a father who survived the Holocaust as a 25 year old in 1939. I know what it is to be raised to be on constant alert […]
Continue Readingby Lorie Holder-Webb As I left Mayyim Hayyim, my Mikveh Guide wished that next time we meet be for joy. I understand that, and thanked her for that wish, but I have to say that for me, this meeting was for joy. I know it must seem that immersing in the midst of a chronic […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Hillman I first immersed at Mayyim Hayyim in September 2019, but my relationship with the mikveh in Newton began in Washington, DC five years earlier. I want you to understand how your support for Mayyim Hayyim touches lives far beyond Boston. I was 28 years old and undergoing treatment for breast cancer. After seven […]
Continue Readingby Amber Caulkins, Director of the Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network I’ve been to the mikveh for many important moments in my life: for traditional reasons (converting, before my wedding), and other times for reasons like starting a new career or embarking on a move across the country. These experiences were all meaningful in […]
Continue Readingby Shirah Hecht Yaakov awoke from his sleep, and said, In truth, [the Glory of] Adonoy is [dwells] in this place, and I did not know it [would not have known it]. Mikveh and Embodied Judaism Mikveh and I encountered each other a few times in my life, always with positive associations. I first went to the mikveh before my wedding, at age 22, […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein, Mikveh Guide At Mayyim Hayyim, we are grateful to Margaret for her bravery in speaking up about sexual assault. Read her story, learn about how she used mikveh as part of her healing process, and consider a donation so that Mayyim Hayyim can continue to be there for survivors. The […]
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