by Rachel Eisen, Director of Development and Acting Executive Director
“Let me get that for you!”
I had, as I am wont to do, dropped something. I was walking out of a meeting I’d had in Mayyim Hayyim’s Beit Din room. I was heading upstairs to my desk, and I was carrying two notebooks, a planner, my phone, a hot cup of coffee, and a pen.
My hands were extraordinarily full and of course, the pen slipped from its precarious perch between my planner and the crook of my elbow.
Before I could even locate where the pen had fallen, Rene, a Mikveh Guide who was standing in the reception area, called out, “Let me get that for you!”
It was the simplest of gestures – it was only a pen, after all! – yet it spoke volumes.
It was emblematic of the care and lovingkindness with which all our volunteer Mikveh Guides approach their role here at Mayyim Hayyim. They’re tuned into you and your experience, ready to anticipate your needs and spring into action. They’re selfless and always happy to help.
When I welcome guests for tours of Mayyim Hayyim I talk about how being a Mikveh Guide isn’t a walk-off-the-street kind of volunteer opportunity. It takes someone special, someone who can withdraw themselves and their own ego and center you, the guest. It takes the kind of person who doesn’t even wait until the pen hits the floor to offer help.
Are you this person?
Mayyim Hayyim is about to offer our 12th Mikveh Guide training and we’re in search of the next group of dedicated volunteers who think and act like Rene did. We’re especially encouraging Jews of color, Sephardi, Mizrahi, transgender, and nonbinary Jews to apply, so that our volunteers will better represent the full diversity of our community and our guests.
Learn more and apply here for the training that will begin this November. I hope I’ll run into you the next time I’m juggling an armful!
Rachel Eisen is Mayyim Hayyim’s Director of Development and Acting Executive Director.