By Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Since Mayyim Hayyim opened nine years ago (Happy 9th birthday, Mayyim Hayyim!) over 1000 people have chosen to immerse before their wedding. For some, a bridal immersion is the first of what will become a regular niddah (monthly) practice. For others, it’s a one-time event to mark a […]
Continue Readingby Dr. Naomi Marmon Grumet Today we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim (the day Jerusalem was reunified in 1967), and the miracle of sovereignty over the wondrous city of Jerusalem. I think that sharing this blog about a program that emanates from Jerusalem is a wonderful way to celebrate! Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows about […]
Continue Readingby Britni de la Cretaz When we were beginning to plan our wedding, Ben and I began researching Jewish wedding traditions to see which ones felt meaningful to us. We were both raised Jewish and we were both bar mitzvahed (or bat mitzvahed, in my case), but neither one of us consider ourselves to be […]
Continue Readingby Michael Franck One Jewish life. Two beautiful Jewish children. That is what mikveh has given me. I have been reflecting on this lately because of Mayyim Hayyim’s upcoming spring benefit event, Men, Mikveh, and Malt, which I am helping to plan. Thinking about the event, and about what Mayyim Hayyim means, has made me […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, intern There is a very popular urban legend that an elderly male rabbi once stood up at synagogue and, addressing a female presenter, said “A woman belongs on the bima like an orange belongs on a seder plate.” From that day forward, women everywhere have been placing oranges on their seder plates […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Lev Baesh Twice now, I have had the pleasure of celebrating weddings at Mayyim Hayyim, immediately following conversion with a Beit Din and immersion. The first couple came from Canada with parents and a brother. I had worked with her toward conversion via Skype and they wanted to complete her conversion at the […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Last week marked the end of my first year as a full-time employee at Mayyim Hayyim. Many have heard me joke, “If you harass people enough, they’ll hire you,” but the truth is, I am incredibly lucky to be able to pass under the sign reading “boachem l’shalom” […]
Continue ReadingBecoming a Mikveh Guide is a thoughtful and intentional process. Seth Stadfeld is a member of Cohort 8, our newest and first-ever men’s only training, and offers his thoughtful and intentional reflections about immersing in the mikveh by Seth Stadfeld, Mikveh Guide Trainee I have been wrestling with how to understand all I am learning […]
Continue Readingby Sarah Gurvis, Administrative Assistant Anyone who has spent any amount of time with children knows that they tend to ask a lot of questions. When I’m not working at Mayyim Hayyim, I work as a part time nanny for 4 wonderful and particularly inquisitive girls. Normally, the questions are of a definitive nature such […]
Continue Readingby Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator “Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin Since I began working at Mayyim Hayyim last […]
Continue Readingby Allison Poirier Last week, on a very cold and wintry Friday morning I left my apartment in Morningside Heights to catch the subway to 74th street. I was on my way to the Upper West Side Mikveh. Along with six other women, I was on my way to a field trip planned as part […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Pamela Jay Gottfried I was delighted when Rabbi Joe Brodie, the Dean of Student Life and father figure to many of us at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), agreed to officiate at my wedding. I was also anxious. Like my future spouse, Joe was fairly traditional about ritual observance, and I was embarrassed […]
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