Who Are Your Teachers?

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By Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director Have you ever thought about all the teachers you’ve had in your life? Can you imagine what you would be without them? Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? First grade? My first grade teacher was Mrs. Rowbottom. Yup, Rowbottom. She ate her triangular sandwich quarters by wrapping them […]

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There and Back Again

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by Samantha Testa I was raised Jewish, I learned about the mikveh in Hebrew school. And like a lot of other things I learned in Hebrew school it didn’t stick with me. Then last summer, I interned at Mayyim Hayyim and I was reintroduced to the mikveh. It changed how I view and experience the […]

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Mikveh Prayer

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by Arlyn Miller This post is the third of a three-part series of poems inspired by our Gathering the Waters International Mikveh Conference in 2010. Begin again. This time in benevolence without violence or betrayal. This time without someone else’s story dragging you under, drowning you breathless with terror. This beginning begins with you. Take the love you […]

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Too Jewish, or not Jewish enough?

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by Talia Jaffe, Education Intern There is a decision a person has to make every time they walk into a room. They have to decide if they want to be the funny version of themselves, the nice, the frustrated, the understanding. They have to decide which of their identities they want to put forth. What […]

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Soul Searching for Rachela

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by Marcia Colagiovanni It was an honor to introduce Rabbi Barbara Aiello to Mayyim Hayyim during her February 2014 Boston visit to serve as a Scholar-in-Residence at Temple Beth David of Westwood. While all annual Scholar Programs at my temple have enhanced my ongoing Jewish learning, this one was particularly personal for me.  I am […]

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The Onus is on the Community

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This post originally appeared on The Jewish Week’s “The New Normal: Blogging Disability“   by Carrie Bornstein   Larry had a problem. It was the winter of 2004 and he’d spent years dreaming of becoming a Jew.  Following many months of formal study he was ready to go before the beit din, the group of […]

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Monologim Mihamikveh

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Written by Aliza Kline, Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim                “Monologim Mihamikveh” (“Mikveh Monologues”), was the title of a recent article that my Hebrew tutor, Rona, showed to me. I met Rona through ESRA, an Israeli organization that supports English-speakers moving to Israel. Once a week, we sit at her kitchen table to drink coffee, schmooze, […]

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Found the Mikveh

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Written by Aliza Kline Reposted from Aliza and her husband Bradley’s Israel blog. It was not easy, there is no online listing in English, or apparently in Hebrew, of area mikvaot. Many of the people I’ve met here are not mikveh goers – and are definitely not aware of the tucked away mikvaot in the […]

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