by Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director December 16, 1990, our wedding day, was the culmination of some very speedy planning. My then-boyfriend Jeff and I, living 200 miles apart for two years, waited until we knew we could both be employed in the same city to get engaged. We managed the trifecta of life […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Leora Abelson Ordination weekend began at the mikveh. This felt right for our class, which had marked the beginning of each year of rabbinical school with a ritual at Crystal Lake. We know that the mere presence of water can be grounding and heart-opening. We gathered early Friday morning. Our group of eleven […]
Continue Readingby Phyllis Hirth Here’s my timeline, short and sweet: I was born in Connecticut, raised as a Catholic, moved to New York after college, met my husband, and married into a Conservative Jewish family. My first experience with mikveh was during my own conversion to Judaism. My memory of that is less than pleasant. A woman […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assistant A few months ago, I attended a women’s Rosh Chodesh (new moon) gathering at the Moishe Kavod House. After discussing the themes of the month and checking in with one another about our many life transitions, we were asked to take a siddur (prayer book) and borrow lines […]
Continue Readingby Leah Bieler All four of my kids inherited things from me: some good, and some bad. And since I tend to be a bit strong-willed – some might even say stubborn – it’s no surprise that trait got passed down to all four of them…must be a dominant gene. But my younger daughter, Nili […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director When Mayyim Hayyim was born in 2001, the world was a very different place. The internet certainly was, too. Most Americans, in fact, didn’t even have internet access and if they did, they connected via dial-up. (Go ahead and click here to relive the memories.) Mayyim Hayyim launched its very […]
Continue Readingby Nancy Katz “In gratitude I come today to celebrate the blessings in my life. I honor those who have helped me along the way and give thanks for their supportive presence. As I prepare to immerse in the waters of the mikveh, I appreciate the journey that has brought me to this moment.” From […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving I once learned a quirky little fact about mikveh: if there is a shortage of rainfall to provide the necessary natural water in the bor (the outdoor water collection that “kisses,” or touches, the clean tap water inside) you can use ice. During the melting process, the transition […]
Continue Readingby Andrew Wofford When my Rabbi suggested that I immerse in the mikveh to mark my graduation from college, I was rather confused and somewhat hesitant. I had known of the mikveh only as a formality, an obligatory element of the conversion process. As the son of a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother, I […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director Nervous. Skeptical. Proud. Curious. Matter of fact. As a Mikveh Guide at Mayyim Hayyim, I am never certain what emotion will present itself accompanying the guest walking through the door. First-timers are sometimes a bit anxious and often apologetic for their naïveté about mikveh. I assure them that […]
Continue Readingby Jo Radner They knew, those old rabbis, that the rod of Moses did not part the sea. No magic wand could wrench generations from the narrow places, hauling Egyptian rocks, tilling Egyptian soil, pounding Egyptian laundry by the river. Never mind the straggling, befuddled exiles, never mind the hurtling chariots – That brimming sea […]
Continue Readingby Laura Bishop I did not have a traditional Jewish wedding. In another life, where I married another man, I would have loved to have been under the chuppah (wedding canopy), wrapped in a tallis (prayer shawl), as the rabbi blessed us, our union, and consecrated our marriage under the laws of Moses and Israel. […]
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