by Walt Clark, Office Manager Stark: severe or bare in appearance or outline. This past week at Mayyim Hayyim the walls were empty. The art has come down as we wait for the next exhibit to go up. A fresh coat of paint has seemingly washed the nicks and scratches off the walls, so that all that is […]
Continue Readingby Iris Adams I’ve always been curious about the tradition of mikveh, so I was pleased to accept an invitation to visit Mayyim Hayyim in June with a group of women from the Merrimack Valley. When I walked through the gate by a pretty white and blue tiled bench set among greenery and gardens, I […]
Continue Readingby DeDe Jacobs-Komisar, Development Manager This week marks my first Mayyim Hayyim “work-iversary.” When I started as Development Manager in July of 2014, the very first thing I did was observe an educational program with high school students from Genesis, a Brandeis University Jewish studies summer program for teens from all over the world. It […]
Continue Readingby Caroline Potter Earlier this month, I attended a conference called “Students are Not Asking Questions,” organized by the Cambridge-based, Right Question Institute (RQI). Chiefly a professional development conference for educators, it aimed to address the steep decline in question-asking as children mature and advance in school. So, why do children stop asking questions? In part, […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director I love Fridays in the summer. The anticipation of a weekend filled with family, beach, sun, swimming, cousins, and a book — when every meal is al fresco, including Shabbat dinner lit only by candlelight and, by dessert, moonlight. At Mayyim Hayyim, Friday afternoons in July are marked […]
Continue Readingby A. Fox In my parents’ home back in St. Paul, Minnesota, I used to tiptoe into the bathroom late at night, lock the door behind me, put a towel in the door’s crack and turn off the lights. I knew how many steps it took to reach the faucet. How many inches to lift my hand for […]
Continue Readingby Shira M. Cohen-Goldberg The internal dialogue goes like this: I have to go to the mikveh. Do I really have to go this month? When can I go this week? Do I really have to go? I have between 3-4 on Thursday, but my meeting gets out at 2:30, which doesn’t leave me travel […]
Continue Readingby Leah Wittenberg, Mayyim Hayyim Intern “There was a mikfa on oitnb!” This was the slightly confusing text I received from one of my friends who is not Jewish, but knows I am interning at a mikveh, Mayyim Hayyim, this summer. She is also in tune with Judaism due to all the Friday nights she has spent […]
Continue Readingby Wendy Gonsenhauser, Teacher at Beth Tikvah Synagogue of Westborough MA and her 5th and 6th Grade Students Every year, Mayyim Hayyim’s Education Center sees over sixty programs for youth, (and another fifty for adults). Students come from day schools and synagogues all over the Greater Boston Area, some travelling from as far as New […]
Continue Readingby Cara Rock-Singer In Memory of Bonna Devorah Haberman z’’l, passed away June 16, 2015 On July 16, 2013, around thirty people gathered at Mayyim Hayyim for a Tisha b’Av program with Bonna Devorah Haberman z’’l to reflect on the relevance of the historical Temple commemorations today. Tisha b’Av has come to hold layers of Jewish sadness and […]
Continue Readingby Sarah Resnick Jenna Weissman Joselit’s recent column in The Forward “Why The Status of Judaica is Waning” wonders whether Judaica is now passé given that museums are turning away collections of intricately decorated menorahs and Kiddush cups, and invites readers to “re-engage with Judaica, if not on its own terms then as pieces of […]
Continue Readingby Rachel Eisen, Mayyim Hayyim Intern Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about ritual. And by “a lot,” I mean even more than usual for someone who is interning at an organization specifically devoted to ritual. There’s no mystery as to why—three things happened recently to cause this. First, I met with one of my […]
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