Conversion and Affirmation, Healing, Life Transitions, Marriage and Relationships, Niddah, Parenting

Hineini: Here I Am, a Former Mikveh Dissenter and Bride (again) at 57

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by Nina B. Lichtenstein As a convert to Judaism, I have always said that “doing Jewish” is how my chosen identity anchored and deepened itself, and it has helped explain (to myself) why I embraced so fervently (relatively speaking) the laws of Shabbat, kashrut, and taharat ha-mishpacha (the laws of family purity). These three pillars […]

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A New Life for the New Year

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by Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director Mayyim Hayyim is the home of new beginnings. After ten years of working at Mayyim Hayyim, I’ve seen a lot of joyful celebration. But I’ve seen a great deal of heartache, too: couples mourning miscarriage, grieving after stillbirth, weeping after failed IVF cycles, immersing month after month, trying to conceive. […]

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Water for Life

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by Fern Remedi-Brown This is our family’s story: Before we adopted our now-12-year-old daughter, Maya, from Guatemala, we had decided on her name. Her biological mother had given her the name María Guadalupe, which means “river of black stones.” We are a two-mom, bi-cultural family. I was raised Jewish, and my wife, Ginny, was a […]

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Kicking off Kindergarten at the Mikveh

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by Amber Caulkins, Director of Rising Tide “I love the mikveh. The water is so warm.” These were the words of my five year-old daughter, Rebecca, as she sat at the breakfast table, a half-eaten bowl of cereal in front of her, looking at a picture she had drawn the day before. The picture, drawn […]

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Pressing Pause on Bat Mitzvah Madness

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by Kim Creem This past May was my daughter Lily’s Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in Newton, where we have been members for over 15 years. She had been at Temple Emanuel for both preschool and Hebrew school and was completing her last year at Makor at Hebrew College in the spring. Over the years, […]

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My Budding Feminist

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by 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 […]

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Back to Work

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by Lauren Korn Spring is the season for renewal and new starts. My season of new beginnings started while we were still in fear of having snow days. My name is Lauren, and I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years. That phrase took a long time for me to be able to […]

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Creating the World We Want to See

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by Carrie Bornstein Last week, Carrie shared these words as she was honored at Mayyim Hayyim’s spring benefit, Soul/Life/Cycle: My first job interview at Mayyim Hayyim was exactly ten years ago this Thursday; less than 48 hours before Eliana was born. At the time I couldn’t decide how I felt about doing a 9th month […]

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Water Wonders: Family Fun at the Mikveh

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by Shira Cohen-Goldberg, Board Member Where are we going, Momma? To a special program, just you and me. What is the program? We are going to learn about water and a special place in our community called Mayyim Hayyim. What does Mayyim Hayyim mean? Is that Hebrew? What are we going to do there? Can […]

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“G” is for Galya

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by Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum “Every life is a unique expression of the great mystery that connects us. We ride upon the surface of the unfathomable deep, each one of us a wave from God.” “I guess we’ll have to find a name that starts with ‘G’.” This was my first thought as we left the […]

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