by Patti Grossman Today, for the first time, I will immerse in the mikveh at Mayyim Hayyim. There have been many times in the past when I considered immersing, but I never did. Big birthdays, marriages of our children, the births of four grandchildren, anniversaries. Like most of us, I think, many of the exquisite experiences […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Leslie Gordon This is not a blog entry about what it feels like to immerse in Mayyim Hayyim. Most narratives in this space provide moving descriptions of the tranquility of the pools, of the restorative powers of the living waters. This is a glimpse into what it feels like on the other side […]
Continue Readingby Sarah Gurvis, Administrative Assistant For the past 13 years, I have spent every summer at URJ Eisner Camp in the Berkshires. I’ve been a camper, a counselor, and a unit head. I’ve made friends that feel more like family, and both taught and learned from hundreds of incredible children. Eisner taught me how to […]
Continue Readingby Sara Luria The week before my New York wedding, I boarded a train at Penn Station, Boston-bound, to immerse at Mayyim Hayyim. I was flustered and hurried, as brides often are in those logistics-packed pre-wedding days. The instructions in the prep rooms at the mikveh gently urged me to slow down, to reflect, and […]
Continue Readingby Gaby Zwiebach My family roots stem both from Peru and from Mexico. The cultures of these two countries have always had a strong influence in my life and in the life of my two older sisters, and eventually in the lives of our respective children. The three of us were born in Mexico to […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Every summer at camp there would be some new rule or some change that would seem to have dramatic and life-altering consequences. A schedule change (but we always swim after sports!), a favorite food item discontinued (but we always have purple bug juice at lunch!), a curfew made […]
Continue ReadingBy Rabbi Jenny Solomon Shehehiyanu, v’kiyamanu, v’higiyanu lazman ha’zeh! (Thank you, God, for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this day!) It is almost unfathomable to me that just a year ago we opened our doors and our waters to the Jewish community. Living in a relatively small Jewish community in […]
Continue ReadingBy Harry and Elaine Wayne When we were planning our wedding 63 years ago, an Orthodox Jewish girlfriend gave us an engagement gift: a book explaining mikveh. The obvious purpose of the author was to encourage use of the mikveh ritual, including instructions on building one’s own in-home mikveh from a TV cabinet. Contrary to […]
Continue ReadingBy Max Klau Becoming a father for the first time is a big deal. And like most big transitions, it’s easy for the deep significance of the change to get lost in details that are material, financial, logistical, and medical. Amidst all the planning and reflecting that I was able to do with my wife, […]
Continue Readingby Sarah Chandler Once there was a young girl named Shalvi who lived by a magic stream. These waters could mend a broken heart, repair a shattered limb, and even heal grave illnesses. The individual need only immerse completely in the waters in order to unlock their magic. And yet, many visitors left with their […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Caroline Musin Berkowitz This week, we read two of my favorite Torah portions, Tazria and Metzora, and we learn about what to do when faced with, well, blood and guts. The laws are complex and full of examples of what is tamei, ritually impure, and what is tahor, ritually pure. If you have […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Rabbi Daniel Brenner At a conference on a ridiculously sunny spring day at New York University, I met a Jewish guy in his thirties who was planning on getting hitched this summer. When he heard that I was the director of a project focused on the lives of boys and men in the […]
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