by Susan Arndt It’s hard to believe we just celebrated my son’s Bar Mitzvah. Zachary was born a beautiful healthy baby, but at the age of sixteen months, he started having seizures. Over the years, with all of the challenges he has faced being non-verbal and having developmental delays, I have always looked for ways of […]
Continue Readingby Caroline Potter Earlier this month, I attended a conference called “Students are Not Asking Questions,” organized by the Cambridge-based, Right Question Institute (RQI). Chiefly a professional development conference for educators, it aimed to address the steep decline in question-asking as children mature and advance in school. So, why do children stop asking questions? In part, […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director I love Fridays in the summer. The anticipation of a weekend filled with family, beach, sun, swimming, cousins, and a book — when every meal is al fresco, including Shabbat dinner lit only by candlelight and, by dessert, moonlight. At Mayyim Hayyim, Friday afternoons in July are marked […]
Continue Readingby Wendy Gonsenhauser, Teacher at Beth Tikvah Synagogue of Westborough MA and her 5th and 6th Grade Students Every year, Mayyim Hayyim’s Education Center sees over sixty programs for youth, (and another fifty for adults). Students come from day schools and synagogues all over the Greater Boston Area, some travelling from as far as New […]
Continue Readingby Ilana Snapstailer “What on earth are they going to do for two hours at a mikveh?!” asked a parent. The truth is, I was not entirely sure, but upon many recommendations, I scheduled a visit to Mayyim Hayyim with my girls. I am not yet a mother. “My girls” refers to the group of […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein (This post originally appeared on Kveller.com) Sometimes life has a funny way of working itself out. It’s not that things are so drastically different as an adult than how I imagined they’d be, but looking back, I’ve had a few surprises. When I was a little girl and people asked me what […]
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 I wrote recently about my children at the mikveh. It was a story of hope that my children know Mayyim Hayyim is a place where they are welcome and immersion is an option in their lives. Coming from a non-traditional religious background, immersion was not part of my […]
Continue Readingby Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator Last Sunday, I had a glimpse into one of the many amazing programs that happen here at Mayyim Hayyim, when my younger daughter came with her Rosh Hodesh, It’s a Girl Thing group to the mikveh. My daughter, Elizabeth, and the other girls in the group are from […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Director of Education Remember the Beatles song? “I used to get mad at my school The teachers who taught me weren’t cool You’re holding me down, turning me round Filling me up with your rules. It’s getting better all the time Better, better, better…” Here at Mayyim Hayyim we are big believers […]
Continue Readingby Ben Chartock Although I am only weeks away from my college graduation, I arrived at Mayyim Hayyim when I was 12 years old, and I have a unique vantage point with which to observe the history of the mikveh. Ten years ago, I was a student at Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, and […]
Continue Readingby Sherri Goldman, Administration and Finance Director When I was growing up I didn’t know about mikveh. Mikveh just wasn’t a tradition in my Reform Jewish family. Even my Bubbe (Yiddish for Grandmother), who was raised Orthodox and moved to the United States from Ukraine in the 1930’s, never spoke about mikveh. I remember her […]
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