The Yahrzeit Candle March 29-30, 1997 It was 7:30 on the night before Easter Sunday, and I was about to light my first Yahrzeit candle. Lev Baesh gave this memorial light to me. Two and one-half years earlier after hearing one rabbi’s spiritual presentation at a hospice training session, another rabbi intimately entered my world. […]
Continue ReadingAs a mikveh guide who volunteers regularly, I see the holidays in a way that I hadn’t before—while I have always known they mark time’s passage, celebrations, and events, when people come to the mikveh to immerse for a holiday, I see how some people carry tradition with them by taking time out of their […]
Continue ReadingInching our way down Commonwealth Ave, all I could think was, “We’re going to be late.” As I pulled into the parking lot just minutes before our scheduled arrival at 2:00 pm, my cell phone rang. One of the other vans had taken a different Washington Street and was still 15 – 20 minutes away. […]
Continue ReadingNot all sex is made equal. Sex is sometimes good and sometimes really good. So how does sex go from good to great? Many couples, guided by a whole genre of literature on the subject, focus on techniques, positions, and props. There is, however, another factor that I believe is incredibly helpful when it comes […]
Continue ReadingI felt like a fraud! Mayyim Hayyim’s mission speaks to me, it speaks loudly and it speaks clearly! So, why had I never immersed? I have had the privilege of serving on the organization’s Board of Directors. I have also taken the training to become a mikveh guide, and find those experiences of being witness […]
Continue ReadingI 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 […]
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