by Leeza Negelev, Associate Director of Education Mayyim Hayyim’s Seven Kavanot for Mikveh Preparation lists seven practical steps for the removal of chatzizot (barriers) that might come between the water and me. This document also offers seven intentions (kavanot) that focus my mind on removing these barriers with loving attention and respect for my body. Having used the […]
Continue Readingby Anita Diamant, Founding President I have to tell you a story. At the recent Reform Movement Biennial, more than 50 participants from all over the world took a field trip to Mayyim Hayyim. The response was — rapturous. Mikveh and Education Director, Lisa Berman, asked those 50 URJ guests how many had never been […]
Continue Readingby Leah Robbins, Administrative and Marketing Assitant January 1st… It’s coming. The new year brings with it a sense of infinite possibility, a childlike sense of hope, a renewed faithfulness in our capacity to fundamentally transform ourselves and the world around us. Of course, we Jews already had the opportunity to take stock of ourselves […]
Continue Readingby Anonymous I grew up in an observant household, and because of that, going to the mikveh was, in many ways, a given for me. Ever since I was old enough to figure out why my mom would go out for a while each month and come back with wet hair, I just assumed that […]
Continue Readingby Amber Caulkins, Director of Rising Tide Mikveh Network A few weeks ago I traveled to Baltimore with two of my Mayyim Hayyim colleagues to attend the Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network gathering. The trip gave us the opportunity to connect with Jewish leaders who are working to create “communities of meaning,” defined by Kenissa […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Jeremy Sher This Hanukkah season, as we get ready to commemorate the rededication of the Temple, I’m thinking back to a very special time of personal rededication: my immersion at Mayyim Hayyim, one of the formative experiences of my life. I had been to Mayyim Hayyim several times to witness immersions, but it […]
Continue Readingby Kimberly Creem Earlier this year, my daughter, Lily, became a bat mitzvah. I’d been looking forward to this for years. Beneath the Surface, Mayyim Hayyim’s program for Bat Mitzvah girls and their moms, sounded like a wonderful idea. When I told Lily we were going to sign up, she wondered if we’d know anyone […]
Continue Readingby Rebekah Erev In 2000, a group of radical queers in Olympia, Washington welcomed me into a chavurah (group of friends) of artists, musicians, and organizers. We had all experienced feeling excluded, living on the fringes, and shared a desire to welcome and acknowledge the beauty of the liminal space we occupied as queers. We […]
Continue Readingby Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director The last time I wrote for this blog I was preparing to deliver a baby as a gestational surrogate, for a Jewish couple from London. So, yeah… that happened. On September 28, 2017 I delivered a 6 lb., 10 oz. baby girl – you can read the whole birth story […]
Continue Readingby Esther Sadie Brandon I am now a breast cancer survivor. In the summer of 2015, an immersion at Mayyim Hayyim was my medium to mark the transition from being in treatment to healing. The words Refuah Sh’leimah can be interpreted as a prayer for wholeness. Integration is the neurological process of bringing together differentiated […]
Continue Readingby Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish Niddah is the practice of abstaining from sexual intimacy around the time of menstruation. When contemplating the rabbinic laws surrounding menstruation, it can be easy to wonder: Why is there a whole area of Jewish law devoted to the intricacies of determining the beginning and end of women’s menstrual cycles? At times, […]
Continue Readingby Leeza Negelev, Associate Director of Education Often when I teach youth about mikveh, I talk about how a ritual can help us get from Point A to Point B. We start with the secular. For a few minutes, a group of middle school students and I will generate all kinds of transitional moments and […]
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