by Walt Clark, Office Assistant There was an ancient Roman god called Janus who was known as the god of beginnings and transitions. All entrance ways and exits fell under his purview. He was depicted as having two faces, one that faced the past and the other towards the future. Janus is not a widely […]
Continue Readingby Naava Pasternak Swirsky Back in May, Penny Harow Thau and I published a book, There’s a Shark in the Mikvah! A Light-hearted Look at Women’s Dunking Experiences. We had contacted friends and family and used social media to collect funny mikveh stories. After the book came out, I wrote an article for the Times of […]
Continue Readingby DeDe Jacobs-Komisar, Development Manager ISIS. Israel/Gaza. Climate change. Rampant inequality and poverty. Women’s reproductive rights being chipped away. Oh yeah, and an Ebola epidemic. We’re living in pretty troubling times, and that’s not even taking into account the challenges we sometimes have being good family members, friends, and colleagues. Or just getting through the […]
Continue Readingby Walt Clark, Office Assistant “And God saw that all had been made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken: [God] ceased on […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director When we talk about Mayyim Hayyim, we often focus on the moments at our mikveh that are celebratory. Joyful gatherings of people who usher into our space an atmosphere of conviviality and festivity — conversions, brides and grooms, bar and bat mitzvah kids, birthday celebrants. Just last week […]
Continue Readingby Cindy Kalish Following up on A Kosher Lesbian Jew, this is a prayer that Cindy created and read to her guests before immersing for her birthday. As I prepare to immerse in these waters, I reflect on the past decade in an effort to open myself to the possibilities of the decade that lies before me. I […]
Continue Readingby 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 […]
Continue ReadingBy Lisa Berman, Mikveh and Education Director On May 29, 2014 at Mayyim Hayyim’s tenth year celebration event, we honored our Director of Education, Lisa Berman, who has taught more than 20,000 visitors to our education center since our opening. Here are her remarks about her Jewish journey and her path to Mayyim Hayyim. […]
Continue Readingby 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 […]
Continue Readingby Arlyn Miller This post is the second of a three-part series of poems inspired by our Gathering the Waters International Mikveh Conference in 2010. As if you didn’t have a body, were all thought and feeling. As if the clumsy feet, the aging hands, the blemished skin and unwieldy hair were not you. Most of the […]
Continue Readingby Sherri Goldman, Administrative and Finance Director “Membership at Mayyim Hayyim allows me to focus on myself. My membership allows me to immerse as many times as I want, focusing solely on my kavanah (direction of my heart); I have no concerns or thoughts about anything else.” “I feel completely supported by Mayyim Hayyim. My membership […]
Continue Readingby Arlyn Miller This post begins a three-part series of poems inspired by our Gathering the Waters International Mikveh Conference in 2010. Approach the water. Bring who you are and what you have lost. In its transparency the water holds every color. Like light – every color contained; though we cannot see this, for seeing […]
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Mark the new year with an immersion.
