by Anita Diamant
I am writing this because (1) it’s important and (2) you care about Mayyim Hayyim.
I’ll start with (2). If you’re taking the trouble to read the Mayyim Hayyim blog, I’m betting that you understand what Mayyim Hayyim adds to Jewish lives here in the Boston area, New England and well beyond. There is no other ritual and no other mikveh that is as open to the entirety of our community. Mayyim Hayyim adds a profound dimension to important moments that occur in the course of any human life: joyful peaks, times of pain, and countless changes, both anticipated and unexpected.
Now for (1) and why I’m putting on my schnorrer hat. As the end of the year approaches, Mayyim Hayyim faces a $58,000 deficit.
Your community mikveh stays afloat thanks to very tight fiscal management. But stuff happens, like the fact that both of the pumps to clean and heat the mikveh broke — at the same time! Even the great news that our immersion numbers were way up in 2015 means added expenses.
I can’t say that I’m completely comfortable in the role of schnorrer, but it’s something I’m willing to do because of the all the ways that Mayyim Hayyim continues to change, grow and find new ways to serve the Jewish community, body, mind, and spirit.
Please join me in making a year-end gift to erase the deficit and begin 2016 free and clear.
Thanks so much for your past support and for your help today.
P.S. If you respond to this heartfelt and shameless schnorring, you will be entered in a random drawing to receive one of five hardcover copies of my most recent novel, The Boston Girl, signed and personalized. Send an email to info@mayyimhayyim.org to let us know you made a donation and you’d like to be entered into the drawing.
Anita Diamant was the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim. She is the author of six guidebooks to contemporary Jewish life, including The New Jewish Wedding and Choosing a Jewish Life. She has written five novels including The Red Tent and The Boston Girl.