by Jamie Bornstein Each night Carrie and I settle into our familiar routine. Dinner, kid bedtime, clean up dinner, adult parallel play (each of us sitting on the couch with our laptops catching up on work), Seinfeld at 11 pm, and sleep. Ours is a story familiar to many full-time working couples (with the exception […]
Continue Reading“Before” by Lisa Berman Mayyim Hayyim has been open for eight years now. We’re officially not a “baby” organization anymore. We don’t even feel like a start-up any longer; we have confidence and things run pretty smoothly, if we do say so ourselves. Just as kids have a big new world opened up to them […]
Continue ReadingBy Carol Targum During my daughter-in-law’s pregnancy, a lot of my friends told me that being a grandparent was the icing on the cake, the interest on the principal, the absolute best. It sounded wonderful. But in the last few weeks before the birth of my first grandchild, I began to think beyond the pure […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director When my three-year-old son, Lev, hears the word “birthday”, he says, “It’s MY birthday”. It feels a little bit mean to tell a small child that not only is it not his birthday, but it won’t be for a very long time, but I understand the reaction. Until […]
Continue Readingby Pam McArthur On Friday afternoons, the week begins to fall behind me, its sticky fingers of busyness letting go, one by one. On Friday afternoons, the joyful promise of Shabbat fills the air as the sun dips low to the horizon. On Friday afternoons, you’ll most likely find me at Mayyim Hayyim. Here, the […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Madeline Mayer, Mayyim Hayyim Intern As my time at Mayyim Hayyim comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I love this organization. Here are the top 5 reasons (in no particular order) why this is such a great environment to be a part of. 1. Sounds of Joy– It […]
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 Carrie Bornstein It happened. With balloons, family, pictures, and laughter. Our ten thousandth immersion. Ten thousand. Just the sound of it is impressive. I’ll say it again: ten thousand. One-by-one we counted. Reaching such a milestone, we can’t help but reflect. What does it mean for a mikveh to have touched so many […]
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 ReadingBy Nina Stewart, Mayyim Hayyim Administrative Assistant This past Sunday, Earth Day, New England was soaked in a heavy rain that provided much-needed respite from a three-months-long drought. As a Southern transplant, I am still awestruck by the slowness that this region’s rainstorms bring to city life. I spent most of the day reading and […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Gabriella Spitzer, Barnard College Student At Barnard College, where I am currently a junior, I am taking a class called Thinking Sexuality. Among other things, it deals with the intersections of queer/LGBT life and other aspects of identity. I’d love your help with research for my final project, researching how queer/LGBT Jews and […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Aliza Kline, Founding Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim It’s hard to believe—but I am now beginning the last nine weeks of this extraordinary 10-month sabbatical in Israel. Pesach is vacation time for every Israeli family with school-age children. Each day of the holiday, all five of us (my husband Bradley, and our daughters […]
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