by Becca Shimshak “For the Jews, there was light, happiness, joy and honor; so it should be for us.” ~Esther 8:16 with quote from prayer for Havdalah When I got married ten years ago, I chose this quote for our wedding invitation. For all of our friends, there were big, beautiful weddings. Hotels, tuxedos, cute flower […]
Continue Readingby Shira M. Cohen-Goldberg This has been a hard year. At this time last year my heart was a well of despair. Some of you may have read about how I emerged from having a miscarriage at 12 weeks gestation last year on this blog. Writing that post was extremely healing for me. Many of you reached […]
Continue Readingby Sherri Goldman, Administrative and Finance Director There was exciting news as my husband’s entire family gathered at our house for Thanksgiving. One of our nieces, Kayla, had just recently become engaged to be married. I thought, what better way to celebrate Kayla’s engagement than with a Gift Certificate for her bridal immersion? Earlier in the day I […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Matthew Soffer When Romeo “oos and ahhs” over Juliet in the most famous scene of any of Shakespeare’s plays, he utters a line that is often misappropriated today: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Translation: His beloved’s name is irrespective of her identity, her beauty, and her “sweet smell.” […]
Continue ReadingBy Chaya What do the mikveh, Orthodox Jews, and sex addiction have to do with one another? As an Orthodox woman, and a member of S-Anon, I can safely say that they are deeply intertwined. S-Anon, modeled on 12-step fellowships like Al-Anon, is a support program for spouses, partners, and others affected by another person’s sex […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein Today is Tu B’Av – the fifteenth day of the month of Av – a Jewish Valentine’s Day of sorts, when we mark a day of great joy on the Hebrew calendar. With our Jewish Cupid flying around (Jupid, anyone?), I’m sharing one of our sweetest stories with you, just to make […]
Continue ReadingThis post is part of a series of blog posts about niddah entitled Sacred Bodies, Sacred Time. Read more here – and submit your own post. by Naomi Malka I was a Hebrew school geek. I went to our Conservative shul’s Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday program. In high school, I volunteered in the Hebrew school office. I went to Hebrew […]
Continue ReadingLast December at LimmudBoston, Lisa Berman, Mayyim Hayyim’s Director of Education, moderated a panel discussion entitled “Sacred Bodies, Sacred Time” about the observance of niddah, monthly immersion. According to the laws of niddah, women immerse in the mikveh after menstruation or after giving birth. They refrain from relations with their partners from the beginning of […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Director of Education Often at Mayyim Hayyim we focus on the transitional moments in people’s lives, the moments where something is changing, happening — a stopping point where we are encouraged to take note of this point in time. But let’s be honest. While these pivotal moments are the center of attention for much […]
Continue ReadingBy Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Since Mayyim Hayyim opened nine years ago (Happy 9th birthday, Mayyim Hayyim!) over 1000 people have chosen to immerse before their wedding. For some, a bridal immersion is the first of what will become a regular niddah (monthly) practice. For others, it’s a one-time event to mark a […]
Continue ReadingEditor’s Note: The author of this article prefers to remain anonymous. I never imagined that I would observe regular mikveh practice. I didn’t grow up Orthodox, nor do I identify as such now. I didn’t have female role models in my life who were using the mikveh, no one encouraged me to take on the […]
Continue Readingby Britni de la Cretaz When we were beginning to plan our wedding, Ben and I began researching Jewish wedding traditions to see which ones felt meaningful to us. We were both raised Jewish and we were both bar mitzvahed (or bat mitzvahed, in my case), but neither one of us consider ourselves to be […]
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