Reflections on “Water Wonders” For Families with Children Grades K-2

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by Susan Morrel, Jewish Educator for Mayyim Hayyim’s “Water Wonders”  I am often astounded by the questions early elementary school children ask. They are so full of wonder and curiosity, seeing the world through a lens of awe, fascination, and joy. Not surprisingly, they love to learn about the natural world, particularly water, a mysterious and […]

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Many Visits Later, Finally My First Immersion

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by Rachel Bernstein I had been preparing for my first immersion for eight years. I didn’t know exactly when it would be, but I could guess why it would be. The first eight times I had visited Mayyim Hayyim, I went in my capacity as Academic Adviser for the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute summer internship. I brought […]

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The Kids are All Right – Thanks to You

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October 2016/ Tishrei 5777 Enough with the hand-wringing about the Jewish future. The kids are all right—and then some. You want proof? Listen to Mayyim Hayyim’s young visitors. Listen to Ira, who immersed before his bar mitzvah: This has been one of the most meaningful, spiritual, serene, and overall       amazing experiences I’ve […]

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Enhancing the Bat Mitzvah Experience

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I thought I would take a stab at an interview-style blog post about the Beneath the Surface class I took with my 12-year old daughter, Elliana. Ceceley: Do you want to write a blog post with me about the Beneath the Surface class we took at Mayyim Hayyim? Elliana: No, I don’t remember it. Ceceley: […]

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A Visit to Mayyim Hayyim, A Nondenominational Mikveh

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By Nora Smolonsky *This post originally appeared in Fresh Ideas from HBI, the blog of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. As someone who is not a practicing Jew, I felt reservations before going to Mayyim Hayyim, a mikveh in Newton, MA. To be honest, I was not entirely sure what a mikveh was. I was worried that […]

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A Meditation on Marriage

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by Shira Cohen-Goldberg January 25, 2009. Here was this guy from JDate. He liked Ethiopian food and taught at Tufts University. He was four years younger than I, just out of grad school, and had a warm smile. When we met for dinner, my hair was still wet from the gym, and I had forgotten […]

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Everything Always Comes Back Around

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by Rachel Eisen, Director of Annual Giving Some people think that life is linear, always moving forward in one direction. But I’d like to disagree. In this past year, life hasn’t felt linear at all. Almost a full year ago, I wrote my first blog post as an intern for Mayyim Hayyim. I wrote about […]

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Mayyim Hayyim’s Jewish Feminist Ambassador

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by Sabrina Zionts A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of visiting Mayyim Hayyim for the first time with Wellesley College Hillel. At the beginning of the education program, Leeza asked what we hoped to learn from the session. I shared that I was most interested in learning whether the ritual of mikveh immersion is, or […]

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“Because nothing should come between you and the experience.”

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by Lisa Berman, Mikveh & Education Director Picture a small, sunlit-filled atrium filled with 22 wiggly eleven-year-old boys and girls. They’ve just been darting in and out of mikveh preparation rooms, opening closets, peeking in cabinets and behind shower curtains, flinging themselves on the tiled floor to dip their fingers in the warm mikveh water. […]

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Waterworks and Bright Flights

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by Anita Diamant I’m not sure where my passion for quilts came from, but it probably had something to do with the fact that it was a uniquely American art form created by women who did not consider themselves “artists.” They would have told you that they were just using scraps and bits that might […]

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Intimidated No More

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by Allison Schnipper I recently had the opportunity to visit Mayyim Hayyim for the first time. My son’s 6th grade Hebrew School class from Temple Sinai of Sharon visited as part of their life cycle curriculum. Kids, parents, and teachers piled onto a school bus and traveled together to learn about the mikveh and see […]

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Open Waters, Open Community

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by Ilana Snapstailer When I brought my 7th grade Rosh Hodesh group to Mayyim Hayyim, we learned about the aquatic lift meant to help someone with a disability use the mikveh. When our educator, Lisa Berman, asked the girls “Why might someone with a disability use the mikveh?” one girl promptly answered, “The same reason […]

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