Making History
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
6:30 PM ET
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be inspired
A fun and festive evening of storytelling and music
Celebrating two visionary leaders we love for MAKING HISTORY in our community
Celebrating the dedication of the Patti Grossman z”l Beit Din Room,
a place for welcome and joy
Honoring
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Jonathan Sarna
Jonathan Sarna arrived in Boston at the age of ten. His father, Nahum Sarna, was a biblical scholar at Brandeis and his mother, Helen, a librarian and cataloger at Hebrew College. He attended Brandeis, and then Yale to study American history with a special focus on American religion.
Jonathan then worked and taught at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, home of the American Jewish Archives. That’s where he met his wife, Ruth Langer, now a professor of Jewish studies at Boston College. With Ruth in the family, Jonathan says, they had all of Jewish history covered. “My father covered the ancient period, Ruth does medieval, I do modern and contemporary.”
In 1990, Jonathan returned to Boston and Brandeis to assume the new Braun Chair in American Jewish history. One of his first projects was editing, with Ellen Smith, The Jews of Boston. Jonathan decided to write a one-volume history of Judaism in America. Shortly after beginning, however, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The prognosis was grim and he wondered whether he would live to finish the book. But he did recover and in 2004, to coincide with the 350th anniversary of American Jewish life, American Judaism: A History was published to great acclaim.
Jonathan has known about Mayyim Hayyim since its inception. He recalls talking to founding president Anita Diamant, and made his support known to the community. After Mayyim Hayyim opened, Jonathan brought young journalists from a program for North American religion reporters, as a case study in how to cover Jewish life and traditions. Mayyim Hayyim “was the highlight of the field trips. The journalists understood that this is lived religion, not just theology and thought.”
When Mayyim Hayyim hosted its first international conference in 2010, Jonathan agreed to participate in the keynote panel discussion. He recalls how impressed he was by that gathering: “This wasn’t just a singular institution. It had become a movement… This is something all Jews should be proud of.”
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Shanna Shulman
Shanna was raised in a secular family in St. Louis and Chicago, where her parents helped establish St. Louis’s Central Reform Congregation. She first learned of mikveh while taking a Jewish studies course in college—coincidentally, she recalls studying the work of fellow honoree Jonathan Sarna in that class.
When she and her spouse, Mark, were planning their wedding, they turned to Anita Diamant’s The New Jewish Wedding, and separately immersed in a traditional mikveh as part of their preparation. When the experience fell short, Shanna did it again—in solitude at an outdoor pool in the mountains—a little less traditional, but a more comfortable way for her to connect with the ritual.In 2004, when Mayyim Hayyim was preparing to open, Shanna was to be the very first immersion. She planned to mark her readiness for the birth of her second child and created a ritual that became the basis for Mayyim Hayyim’s Ninth Month of Pregnancy ceremony. Her son arrived before the mikveh was ready, so Shanna immersed three months later to acknowledge his safe delivery. Since then, she and her family have regularly marked important life events at Mayyim Hayyim.
Shanna and Mark are parents to Caleb, Jonah, and Gideon, and members of Temple Beth Avodah. Professionally, Shanna works to increase access to health care for vulnerable populations.
Shanna joined the Mayyim Hayyim Board of Directors in 2014 and was instrumental in shaping its first strategic plan; she is now spearheading our next. She has also served as Vice President of the Board and Governance Chair. For Shanna, Mayyim Hayyim is a meaningful connection to Judaism that is intentional, relevant, and rooted in tradition. “So often we find ourselves in a point of pain or transition—or we haven’t taken the time to celebrate when something wonderful happens. I love sharing Mayyim Hayyim as a resource for those moments in our lives.”
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Questions? To learn more, contact Rachel Eisen, Chief Operations and Advancement Officer, or call 617-244-1836 ext. 211.