Preparing for High School

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by Eytan Weiner Due to the fact that I am a 14 year old boy going into high school, every decision affects my social status. Regardless of how big or small a choice I make, “life changing” things can happen, based on what table I sit at, what food I eat, and who I choose to […]

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Music and Mikveh for the Soul

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by Noah Aronson This year, I’ll be playing with the Noah Aronson Band at Mayyim Hayyim’s Milestones — Step by Step Spring Benefit. I’m thrilled to be able to share in the celebration of this incredible organization. I have had the opportunity twice in my life to immerse in a mikveh. Once on the side of a mountain in […]

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The Waters of My Youth

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by Amos Lassen Recently I visited Mayyim Hayyim as part of a group from Temple Sinai, Brookline. When I arrived I found myself filled with memories from my childhood. Having been raised Orthodox, I was very familiar with the mikveh and as a youngster I would go regularly with my father. As I grew up, I […]

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A Day of Rebirth

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by Daniel Goldberg December 8th, 2015: my first mikveh experience. I’ve been Jewish all my life, but up until a few months ago I didn’t even know this ancient ritual could be practiced by men, other than for the purpose of conversion. I met Rachel Eisen, then an intern at Mayyim Hayyim, at a Jewish event […]

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A Mikveh Guide’s Theology

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by Rafi Spitzer Each person who comes to Mayyim Hayyim is offered a guide, a person trained to facilitate their immersion and to serve as a witness. The Mikveh guide is a representative of the community who acknowledges that a transition has taken place. As a Mikveh Guide, I have witnessed the immersions of grooms, Bar […]

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It's an Honor

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by Jim Ball, Mikveh Guide  New Hampshire’s loss is Massachusetts’ gain, two fold. Peter and Betty Shapiro, this year’s honorees at Mayyim Hayyim’s “Open Waters” benefit celebration on Monday, May 18th, are two folks we’re lucky to have in Greater Boston. They moved here a year and a half ago from Concord, where Peter practiced […]

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Pesach and My Gluten Free Life

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by Walt Clark, Office Manager It’s Pesach (Passover) at Mayyim Hayyim. Late last week, the staff gathered downstairs to get the kitchen ready for the upcoming holiday. As I was surrounded by the fury of cleaning, I realized that the Mayyim Hayyim kitchen had gone gluten free. I live in a gluten free household so I know the warning signs. Cake is gone. […]

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What if You Can't Swim: Part II

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by Leeza Negelev, Associate Director of Education After my education program with Temple Emunah two weeks ago, I went looking through our records for primary source materials about our mechanical lift. I came across a very moving letter we received from Rabbi Peter Stein. In this letter, Rabbi Stein writes about how he was able to share mikveh immersion […]

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A Rose by Any Other Name Would Not Smell as Sweet

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by Rabbi Matthew Soffer When Romeo “oos and ahhs” over Juliet in the most famous scene of any of Shakespeare’s plays, he utters a line that is often misappropriated today: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Translation: His beloved’s name is irrespective of her identity, her beauty, and her “sweet smell.” […]

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The Mohel in the Mikveh

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by Alan Green, Mikveh Guide After 35 years of practicing as an OBGYN in Nashua, NH, I retired in April, 2012. So what did I do with all the free time that I thought I would have? Among other things, I became a Mikveh Guide at Mayyim Hayyim. I was accepted into the 8th cohort […]

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So Future Rabbi…

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by Joseph Gindi My recent move back to Boston to begin rabbinical school has really felt like coming home.  I had previously interned at Mayyim Hayyim, so when Lisa Berman, the Mikveh and Education Director, invited me to come back and volunteer as a Mikveh Guide, I decided to get in the water myself to mark the […]

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Change and Continuity in the Living Waters

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by Gary Waleik Front and center in the book of Leviticus, tractate Mikva’ot of the Talmud, Chasidic writings and throughout Jewish literature, is the idea that a mikveh is inherently and completely holy. But haven’t we always known that water is sacred somewhere deep in our souls? Water was a means of survival for our ancestors, and […]

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