by 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 ReadingOriginally published by Jewish Women of Words, re-posted with permission by Karen Paul I strip off my clothes, step into the shower, scrub my skin raw. Nothing can sit on the surface of my body as I walk towards the mikveh – not jewellery, not contact lenses, not nail polish. I must be as clean […]
Continue ReadingWe’re resharing this past blog post about Beyond the Huppah, our program for engaged and recently married couples. Know someone newly engaged or a couple married in the past five years? A new cohort begins December 7. by Annie O. My husband and I were both raised Jewish, and attended Reform and Conservative religious services […]
Continue Readingby Maiya Edelson When my now husband and I started planning our wedding, we sat down together and talked about the values and priorities we wanted throughout the planning process and the event itself. We spoke about the “feel” of our ceremony and reception, and how we wanted it to be fun and festive and […]
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 Readingby Julie Sullivan, Administrative Director Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of traveling to Boulder, Colorado to attend the wedding of my oldest niece. Since my family lives all over the country now, the occasions where we are all able to gather are increasingly rare. I was so grateful to have four whole days […]
Continue Readingby Annie O. My husband and I were both raised Jewish, and attended Reform and Conservative religious services growing up. While we were dating, we enjoyed going to High Holiday services together, and occasionally hosted Shabbat dinners with friends. We were lucky enough to be married by two rabbis, both close family members. Our conversations […]
Continue ReadingOriginally posted January 2017 by 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 […]
Continue Readingby Rebecca Sher My eldest daughter got married in late September a few days after Yom Kippur. She was the one who encouraged me to experience my first mikveh at Mayyim Hayyim the summer of 2005, eleven months after my mother passed away. We had just moved back to the Boston area after living in […]
Continue Readingby Alon Neidich “This is why we came to America,” my grandmother whispered to my mother as she graduated from medical school. My grandparents fled Europe under the horrors of pogroms and persecution, my mother born in New York and my Abba (father) in a nascent Israel – each of their homes grounded in Jewish […]
Continue Readingby Naomi Baine My husband and I go to the mikveh together. It may not be common, but for us, it’s great. Here’s why. We observe niddah, the practice of abstaining from sexual intimacy around the time of menstruation. The Torah forbids men from being intimate with women in a state of menstrual impurity (Leviticus […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving No, this is not fundraising pitch. I really just want to talk to you about money. (But if you’re interested…) My husband, Nate, and I have lived together for almost four years. But until about a year ago, we’d never had a household budget that we followed, tracked, […]
Continue ReadingSearch
