by Rabbi Jeremy Sher This Hanukkah season, as we get ready to commemorate the rededication of the Temple, I’m thinking back to a very special time of personal rededication: my immersion at Mayyim Hayyim, one of the formative experiences of my life. I had been to Mayyim Hayyim several times to witness immersions, but it […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director It was a hot, sunny day during Sukkot last month and I was in Jerusalem visiting my daughter. During our ten days together, we’d plan an adventure each day. One day we scoured the Muslim Quarter of the Old City for a 200 year old address-less pastry shop […]
Continue Readingby Cantor Rachel Stock Spilker We return to who’ve we’ve always been, are meant to be, but have not yet become. (R. Dov Peretz Elkins) The whole country was focused on the moon and the sun in August for the highly anticipated solar eclipse. We bought our special sunglasses, decided where we wanted to be […]
Continue Readingby Melissa K. Rosen This post originally appeared on Sharsheret’s Blog in 2015. I was a little worried on Rosh Hashanah. By Yom Kippur, I was anxious enough to wonder out loud what I might look like without hair. The official call came right before Sukkot. I was in the kitchen preparing for the holiday […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Jamie Kotler As the month of Elul approaches, immediately preceding the High Holy Days, I am filled with trepidation. The rabbis understand it to be a joyous time. They traditionally interpret the Hebrew letters of Elul (אלול) as an acronym for Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li – “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant I don’t know about you, but Elul has me totally out of sorts. This is supposed to be a deeply reflective moment in time, a month to really sit with our struggles, reevaluate our behavior, renegotiate our values, and renew our commitments. There’s so much I’m itching to […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Tali Kaplan An invitation and an ode: a rabbinical student’s thoughts on and encouragement to join Mayyim Hayyim for Knocking at Our Hearts, a High Holiday musical workshop with Joey Weisenberg, on September 10 at 3:30PM. water and music are healing to immerse and be immersed surrounded enveloped both mediums allow me to […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant This Passover has me thinking a lot about what liberation looks like to me. I wish I could say that the poignancy of our own liberation narrative, from slavery to freedom, have inspired in me words of transformation and moments of comfort and hope. But to be honest… […]
Continue Readingby Wendy Handler, Mikveh Guide A friend recently sent me an email that said, “Keep calm and carry on…spring is coming!” with a beautiful picture of budding flowers in my favorite colors. The message did little to soothe my nerves. Spring is coming…translation: Passover is coming, too…heavy sigh…already I anticipate the back-breaking cleaning. The signs […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director It’s time to pack away this year’s Purim costume, try valiantly to clean up the glitter, put away the glue gun, and start thinking about Passover. Four weeks from tonight we’ll be sitting around our tables munching on parsley and waiting for our turn to come around in […]
Continue ReadingAs Hannukah approaches, we are reminded of this amazing story by former Board Member Jane Matlaw, and we want to share it with you. “When my children were young, they got something small each night of Hanukkah. Growing up, my parents had demonstrated the importance of giving back and I wanted to pass this value […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant Thanksgiving 2016 is over, but Hannukah is approaching, and I am still riding the thankful-train for all that Hashem has gifted me this year. Let us review my timeline: In April I completed my undergraduate thesis at the University of Florida about Jewish feminism, during which time I became […]
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