by Rachel CaraDonna, Mayyim Hayyim Development Intern Summer is transitioning quickly into fall; the air is becoming noticeably crisp and the leaves are beginning to change. The season known best in New England brings along the classic activities and foods such as apple picking, pumpkin carving, apple crisp, and pumpkin pie. Going anywhere, it’s inevitable […]
Continue Readingby Rabbinic Pastor Matia Angelou and Cantor Louise Treitman Over eighteen years ago, we wanted to do something special together to prepare for the High Holy Days. We decided that the tradition of immersing in the mikveh could help us as we each prepared to lead services at our respective congregations. We had done musical […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, intern There is a very popular urban legend that an elderly male rabbi once stood up at synagogue and, addressing a female presenter, said “A woman belongs on the bima like an orange belongs on a seder plate.” From that day forward, women everywhere have been placing oranges on their seder plates […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Last week marked the end of my first year as a full-time employee at Mayyim Hayyim. Many have heard me joke, “If you harass people enough, they’ll hire you,” but the truth is, I am incredibly lucky to be able to pass under the sign reading “boachem l’shalom” […]
Continue Readingby Jordan Braunig, Hebrew College intern Who knows how long I’d been sitting at my desk. Hours? Days? Months? It was time to write my blog post for Mayyim Hayyim, but what to write! I racked my brain, and still, nothing; literally, nothing. Sure, I’ve had the occasional case of writer’s block, but this was […]
Continue Readingby Julia Becker Collins, Director of Community Engagement When my husband and I were in our Introduction to Judaism class at Temple Beth Shalom, we had a class discussion about what is often called the “December Dilemma.” This is the coined phrase that surrounds the ‘conflict’ that appears to many interfaith families and couples at […]
Continue ReadingThis post originally appeared on JewishBoston.com, and was written by Sam Kaplan and Rachel Wilson on behalf of Reform Jewish Outreach Boston When I was introduced to Rachel by a mutual friend, I was told that she was my perfect match: cute, fun, and Jewish! Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad! Given the topic […]
Continue ReadingBy Lisa Berman, Mayyim Hayyim Education Center Director Can you recreate ritual? Of course we here at Mayyim Hayyim believe that you can reimagine it, breathe new life into it, re-envision it, and interpret it in new, contemporary and meaningful ways. We do it every day with the ritual of mikveh. But could a family recreate Chanukah? […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director Every summer at camp there would be some new rule or some change that would seem to have dramatic and life-altering consequences. A schedule change (but we always swim after sports!), a favorite food item discontinued (but we always have purple bug juice at lunch!), a curfew made […]
Continue ReadingBy Carol Targum During my daughter-in-law’s pregnancy, a lot of my friends told me that being a grandparent was the icing on the cake, the interest on the principal, the absolute best. It sounded wonderful. But in the last few weeks before the birth of my first grandchild, I began to think beyond the pure […]
Continue ReadingBy Nina Stewart, Mayyim Hayyim Administrative Assistant This past Sunday, Earth Day, New England was soaked in a heavy rain that provided much-needed respite from a three-months-long drought. As a Southern transplant, I am still awestruck by the slowness that this region’s rainstorms bring to city life. I spent most of the day reading and […]
Continue ReadingWritten by Elisheva Baskin Tisha b’Av, the ninth day in the Hebrew calendar month of Av, is Judaism’s “dark day.” Ironically, it comes in mid- to end of the summer, when the days are long and the sun shines bright. This makes the matter of fasting, not drinking liquids, and not bathing as especially difficult […]
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