Reposted 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 […]
Continue Readingby Sarah Bolts and Michael Chernicoff, Beyond the Huppah Participants fall 2015 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 of […]
Continue Readingby Talya Sokoll, Mikveh Guide A number of years ago, when I moved back to Boston after college in New York, I began the search for Jewish spaces that I felt comfortable and welcome in. As someone who has grown up with a plethora of Jewish experiences, I knew what I liked and what I […]
Continue ReadingExcerpts 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 Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant When I walked into my first day on staff at Mayyim Hayyim yesterday, I had tucked away the pain of this weekend’s horrific events that have been weighing so heavily on me. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have been wrought with fear and grief over […]
Continue Readingby Cara Rock-Singer, Mayyim Hayyim Intern A couple weeks ago, I sat in on a class at Mayyim Hayyim. Joy Ladin, a professor of English at Yeshiva University had brought a class of high school students from the Genesis high school program she was teaching at Brandeis, called, “Investigating Gender, Sexuality and Society.” Our Associate Director of […]
Continue Readingby A. Fox In my parents’ home back in St. Paul, Minnesota, I used to tiptoe into the bathroom late at night, lock the door behind me, put a towel in the door’s crack and turn off the lights. I knew how many steps it took to reach the faucet. How many inches to lift my hand for […]
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 José Portuondo-Dember It’s easy to think of going to the mikveh in terms of “washing away.” My very first experience with a ritual bath was my baptism in the Roman Catholic Church as an infant. It was couched in the language of washing away original sin. As I turned to Judaism and began learning […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein Last week, Cindy shared how she found meaning at Mayyim Hayyim in 2004 after being turned away from her local mikveh when she told them she’d be marrying another woman. I was inspired by her words – but what struck me more was her willingness to give Mayyim Hayyim a chance when she so […]
Continue Readingby Cindy Kalish It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years. A decade since marriage between two people of the same gender became legal in Massachusetts. It is also a decade since I immersed in a mikveh for the first time. In December 2003, a friend of mine suggested that I consider […]
Continue Readingby Sara Epstein At 10 am, I arrived first at the mikveh Mayyim Hayyim in Newton. I rang the bell and was greeted warmly by Amy, my guide. She showed me around the building while we awaited the arrival of three friends who would be coming to witness my ritual cleansing immersion in the Living Waters […]
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