by Tucker Lieberman I am a Humanist Jew. I am a Jew by birth, upbringing, education, and community. I believe in rational inquiry and skepticism. I am a person who shies from labels, but nonetheless, I am a Humanist Jew. Exactly what is it, I have been asked, that draws a humanist to a mikveh? […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director As a staff member and Mikveh Guide at Mayyim Hayyim, I often get asked how often, when and why I immerse. That might be a personal question to some, but I don’t mind. I actually like talking about my immersion experiences because each one led to the next […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Sarah Tasman For the past number of years, immersing in the waters of the mikveh has been an important part of my transition into the new year. Immersing before Rosh Hashanah in previous years felt very natural, an extension of the images of rebirth and renewal, of creation, and of the world coming […]
Continue ReadingEditor’s note: The writer of this post wishes to remain anonymous I’m afraid of water, and I know I’m not the only one. Years of swimming lessons did nothing for me — after all, if you won’t put your face in the water or take your feet off the ground, you’re not going to get […]
Continue Readingby Sherri Goldman, Administrative and Finance Director I feel so renewed and refreshed – I’ve just returned back to work from my summer vacation. As I was planning my vacation, I began to think of all the good and necessary reasons for getting away. I get so caught up in my responsibilities at work […]
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 Jessica Lang Kosa My daughter Evelyn was born underwater. Soon afterwards, we collected rainwater for her naming ceremony, and washed her feet in living water as we welcomed her to family and community. Three years later, the two of us immersed together, marking her weaning, and welcoming a new stage of her life […]
Continue Readingby Maya Bery I stand in front of the mikveh with my rabbi’s arm around me. He has brought me here in my final moments as a non-Jew to give me a bracha, a blessing with which to begin my new Jewish life. I’ve just emerged from my meeting with the beit din, the […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director There’s nothing that lowers one’s body image quite like giving birth. Within a matter of hours, I felt like my body went from its cutest, most beautiful form to its least attractive possible form. I know that it’s a good problem to have – many woman with fertility issues would […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, Former Mayyim Hayyim Intern There was a marked difference between my first dip and my second. Preparing for my first dip, I took my time. I wanted to make sure I did everything right. I was nervous; worried that, while in the water, I wouldn’t immerse my body completely, worried that I […]
Continue Readingby Debbie Issokson, Mikveh Guide I recently returned from a trip to Spain, a country filled with Jewish history, most of it buried, hidden or wiped out of sight since the Spanish Inquisition of the 1400’s. Ubeda was one of our destinations, a small town in the Andalucia region. As I explored TripAdvisor, I found […]
Continue Readingby Jim Billings, Mikveh Guide Do you ever wonder where life might be taking you? Life’s journeys are usually full of ups and downs, twists and turns and paths unexpected, and sometimes we end up in the strangest of places. Approximately 30 years ago I converted to Judaism. I said the Shema (a prayer that […]
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