by Leeza Negelev, Associate Director of Education I first joined Mayyim Hayyim’s program for Bat Mitzvah girls and their mothers, Beneath the Surface, as an educator for the 11th cohort in 2014. I had heard a lot about the impact of the program: how beloved it is by the moms and daughters who participate, as […]
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 ReadingOriginally posted on February 1, 2017. In honor of the recent launch of “Now What?,” Mayyim Hayyim’s newly-available post-conversion curriculum for new Jews and their partners, we wanted once again to share this reflection from Cantor Treitman on the next steps for new Jews after conversion. by Cantor Louise Egbert Treitman I converted to Judaism almost […]
Continue Readingby Lori Kramer, Office Manager Just when I think I have a handle on the logistics of my big family… the school year ends and summer begins. We have to take stock and make sure everyone is getting everywhere they need to be, when they need to be there, with all the things they need […]
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 […]
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