I love the mikveh. I love this mitzvah so much, in fact, that over the last thirteen years I have immersed in many mikvaot around the world. And despite having encountered many mikveh misdemeanors, I continue to return to the “living waters” time and time again. As I reflect on these “misdemeanors,” I don’t include immersing […]
Continue ReadingIn a few weeks, tens of thousands of Jewish kids in North America will pack their bags, say goodbye to their families, and enter the alternate universe of Summer Camp. Campers absorb a great deal of their Jewish education in that universe, a place where many Jewish values take root. I believe that summer camps […]
Continue ReadingAs a Male Mikveh Guide you are about to embark on a marvelous journey through uncharted waters. You will become, with a little patients and practice, the “Mikveh Lady” for your male peers. During the first part of the training you will learn a great deal about the rules of contact between a man and […]
Continue ReadingI was asked to write a blog as an anthropologist who had done work on Jewish Moroccan women, and to be personal and provocative, so here we go! The first image that came to my mind, is that of Ruth, one of my informants who told me, in the 1980’s, that she would go to […]
Continue ReadingThe Mikveh Monologues (© 2005 Mayyim Hayyim) was created in 2004-2005 by internationally acclaimed author Anita Diamant and director Janet Buchwald. The play is based on interviews with men, women and children who marked a personal life transition by immersing in a mikveh. I had decided to immerse as part of my cleaning for Passover, as […]
Continue ReadingWhen my wife announced she was taking us to a mikveh to begin the celebration of my 50th birthday I was worried. Do men use mikvehs? Will I know what to do? Will I be held under water? Will I need to know Hebrew? Will it be awkward? Will I be quizzed about my support […]
Continue ReadingThis coming May marks my 10th anniversary as the executive director of Mayyim Hayyim. Last Sunday, we held our annual spring benefit, and along with showing films and honoring extraordinary people, Dr. Ellen and Dr. Ernie Kornmehl and Carol and Dr. Steve Targum, I received the Nachshon Award – the one designed to honor those […]
Continue ReadingAs a rabbi working with hundreds of interfaith couples, I would have to say that there are as many reasons someone in an interfaith relationship would choose to convert as there are interfaith couples. Some have been thinking about being Jewish since childhood, others have only come to consider it since dating someone Jewish and […]
Continue ReadingImagine it. Ten couples sitting around a table, munching on Terra Chips, hummus and carrots, mixed nuts and Peanut M&M’s; some engaged to be married, some already married, in their late 20’s and older, gay and straight, Jewish-Jewish and interfaith, and all interested in raising Jewish children. They want to start their marriages on the […]
Continue ReadingThe question is: how did a mikveh, a place that was alien to me most of life, become part of my life? Like everyone’s personal story it can be long and complicated or it can be short and concise. So here is the condensed version. My life is filled with twists and turns; it is […]
Continue ReadingI recently served on the beit din for the conversion to Judaism of a German man whose parents had been members of the Nazi party. During our conversation, I bore witness to an amazing story. He had married a Jewish woman 20 years ago, and decided to convert prior to his daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. As […]
Continue ReadingAt Mayyim Hayyim, we believe that the primary role of a Mikveh Guide is to help the visitor feel safe enough to be vulnerable – vulnerable to a meaningful, powerful ritual experience. Through participating in the Guide My Steps Training Curriculum, Mikveh Guides learn to respect the physical, emotional, and personal space of each visitor, […]
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