by Jim Ball, Mikveh Guide Music and Mayyim Hayyim are no strangers to one another. As a mikveh guide, I have heard how musical accompaniment is part of the immersion experience, whether it’s the singing and clapping of “Siman tov u’ Mazel tov” following a conversion, or a quiet recording setting the mood for a […]
Continue Readingby Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator “Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin Since I began working at Mayyim Hayyim last […]
Continue Readingby Allison Poirier Last week, on a very cold and wintry Friday morning I left my apartment in Morningside Heights to catch the subway to 74th street. I was on my way to the Upper West Side Mikveh. Along with six other women, I was on my way to a field trip planned as part […]
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 Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator One of the things that I love about working at Mayyim Hayyim is attending meetings. I’ve been working in the Jewish community for 23 years and every agency runs meetings differently. It’s very common at Jewish Board Meetings to start with a D’var Torah (words of Torah) and […]
Continue Readingby Laura Seide, Intern It is now halfway through my year-long internship here at Mayyim Hayyim, and I have a confession to make: I have a crush on Carrie Bornstein. Though all the staff at Mayyim Hayyim are amazing, strong and intelligent women, who are fantastic role models as both professionals and community members, there’s […]
Continue Readingby Debra Askanase Sometimes, even newborn babies need a fresh start. That’s what I thought when I finally brought my eldest daughter home from Children’s Hospital, three and a half weeks after her birth. She had a rough beginning, going straight from Newton-Wellesley to Children’s Hospital. It was touch-and-go for the first few days, and after […]
Continue Readingby Lisa Berman, Education Center Director Makom kadosh. Holy space. It is what we try to create here at Mayyim Hayyim. We refer to the process as “intentional design” – the highly focused, carefully thought out selection of everything physical at Mayyim Hayyim. In our “Principles of Common Purpose,” we describe our principle of hiddur mitzvah […]
Continue Readingby Samantha Wood When I brought my daughter to Beneath the Surface, I didn’t know what to expect. Ritual Jewish immersion was something I had hardly considered, and I didn’t think I would ever be drawn to it. I didn’t know quite what the workshop would ask of us, but I wanted something to help […]
Continue Readingby Sherri Goldman, Administrative and Finance Director We never spoke about mikveh in my family. I never really thought about this until I started working at Mayyim Hayyim. At Mayyim Hayyim, mothers and daughters come to immerse for many smachot (happy occasions). Families gather to celebrate conversions and wedding immersions. Mothers pass along to […]
Continue ReadingFrom time to time, Mayyim Hayyim staff read through our guest book. It’s quite fulfilling to read about people’s immersion experience(s) in their words. Sometimes people come to mark the ending of an illness or medical treatment or relationship, but their words often sound hopeful for a new beginning. Here are a few entries… This […]
Continue Readingby Leah Hart Tennen, Mikveh Center Director With apologies for plagiarizing from “Rent”, I ask everyone to think about how one measures a year. “In daylight? In sunsets? In midnights? In cups of coffee?” This particular year feels a bit different, however, as I can measure it in many different ways. As my first 365 […]
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