by Amber Caulkins, Director of The Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network
“I feel like a mikveh in our community is possible now.”
Over the last year and half, as the Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network has grown from vision to reality—with 24 member communities to date and with continued growth on the horizon—I hear those words more and more often.
Creating a mikveh—and all that goes along with it—is not easy. Is it possible? I believe it is. How does it happen? The first step is through a commitment to “Shutafut,” or partnership, one of Rising Tide’s values. For us, this means that a future where a mikveh exists to support all Jewish people—wherever they are—can only happen if we work together.
Through sharing knowledge, resources, and support, Rising Tide members are creating the Jewish world they want to be part of. A world where there is a mikveh community to support each person that says, “You are welcome. You are sacred. Your healing matters.”
If you are like me, you have heard stories from friends and family, read stories on the Mayyim Hayyim blog, or experienced first-hand what it means to immerse in a welcoming mikveh. If your community already has a welcoming mikveh, you probably feel proud, like I do, of all the ways it supports each one of us.
For Rising Tide, Shutafut means that it is not enough to know we have a mikveh in our own community. There is still more work to do. In too many places a mikveh does not yet exist, or if it does, there is still not enough awareness about all the ways it can provide support and healing for Jewish people.
Learn more about how you can join Rising Tide and make mikveh possible for all of us—whoever we are and wherever we live.
Amber Caulkins is the Director of The Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network.