By Hannah Rothenberg, Mayyim Hayyim Intern
As I look toward Tu B’Av (15th of Av) at the end of this month, I am thinking about mikveh. Not only because I am Mayyim Hayyim’s summer intern, but because it is a period of transition.
The month of Av is most well known for Tisha B’Av (9th of Av), the saddest day in the Jewish calendar year. It was the date on which both the first and second Temples were destroyed in 586 BCE and 70CE. It is quickly followed by Tu B’av (celebrated on July 29th this year), commonly known as a day of love when people often wear white clothing.
For me, Tu B’Av is a time to look towards the future and think about what will come next. It is a reprieve from grieving and things that weigh us down. I love Tu B’Av because it is a day when the calendar invites me to pause and be with myself. It is a time when I slow down and check in with myself before moving forward in life.
In her book The Jewish Book of Days, Rabbi Jill Hammer writes, “Tu B’Av is an unlikely day of joy, coming as it does in a season of sadness. In its essence, Tu B’Av is a hinge between the time of mourning and the time of gladness, between the pathos of reaping and the celebration of the harvest. It is a door opening from death back into life. Tu B’Av is a day of rebirth, when the cut-down stem yields the ripe, sweet fruit.”
As Tu B’Av is a day of transition, I have learned that many people visit Mayyim Hayyim to immerse in the mikveh as a way to honor transitions in their own lives. The mikveh is a place where you can have the space to center yourself amidst all of life’s changes. With both my 20th birthday and the start of my junior year of college coming up, I’m considering immersing on Tu B’Av as a way of recognizing these transitions.
I invite you to acknowledge your own transitions during this period. Schedule your mikveh immersion at Mayyim Hayyim during the month of Av.
Hannah Rothenberg is an intern at Mayyim Hayyim for the summer of 2026. She will be graduating from Colby College in 2028 with majors in Jewish Studies and Religious Studies. Hannah also works for the synagogue in her college town of Waterville, Maine, which is a part of Mayyim Hayyim’s Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network.