Moving Over, Making Room

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by Anita Diamant, Mayyim Hayyim President and Founder Once upon a time, in 2001, five women signed legal papers petitioning the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to incorporate an independent non-profit entity to be called Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center. The signatories were Dr. Paula Brody, Roz Garber, Judy Green, Rabbi Barbara Penzner […]

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Yes, Actually I Am Jewish

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by Laura Seide, Development intern A few months ago, I wrote about wanting to immerse in the mikveh to recognize my transition into secular adulthood. I expected to find renewal in the waters; what I did not expect to find was the self-acceptance I did not even know I needed. I still remember the first […]

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Our December Dilemma Ritual

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by 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 […]

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Shouldn’t My Willingness to Go to Mikveh be Enough?

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by Ali Kaufman Yares Prior to getting married in 2004, I did a ton of studying and reading about marriage, ketubah (marriage contract), niddah (monthly immersions), hair covering, and even divorce in halacha (Jewish ritual law). After all, I was a Talmud major taking more classes than I needed to because I truly enjoyed studying […]

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My First Witnessed Immersion

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by Sidney Davis, Mikveh Guide My first witnessed immersion experience at Mayyim Hayyim was a remarkably extraordinary event. Personally, it was an affirmation of my role as a mikveh guide. I volunteered to become a mikveh guide because I wanted to take a more active role within my Jewish community that reflected not only my […]

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First Time in the Water

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by Patti Grossman Today, for the first time, I will immerse in the mikveh at Mayyim Hayyim. There have been many times in the past when I considered immersing, but I never did. Big birthdays, marriages of our children, the births of four grandchildren, anniversaries. Like most of us, I think, many of the exquisite experiences […]

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On the Other Side of the Door

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by Rabbi Leslie Gordon This is not a blog entry about what it feels like to immerse in Mayyim Hayyim.  Most narratives in this space provide moving descriptions of the tranquility of the pools, of the restorative powers of the living waters.  This is a glimpse into what it feels like on the other side […]

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A Place of Renewal

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by Sarah Gurvis, Administrative Assistant For the past 13 years, I have spent every summer at URJ Eisner Camp in the Berkshires. I’ve been a camper, a counselor, and a unit head. I’ve made friends that feel more like family, and both taught and learned from hundreds of incredible children. Eisner taught me how to […]

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The New York Community Mikveh Project

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by Sara Luria The week before my New York wedding, I boarded a train at Penn Station, Boston-bound, to immerse at Mayyim Hayyim. I was flustered and hurried, as brides often are in those logistics-packed pre-wedding days. The instructions in the prep rooms at the mikveh gently urged me to slow down, to reflect, and […]

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An International and Multicultural Ritual Immersion

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by Gaby Zwiebach My family roots stem both from Peru and from Mexico. The cultures of these two countries have always had a strong influence in my life and in the life of my two older sisters, and eventually in the lives of our respective children. The three of us were born in Mexico to […]

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Change is Change

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by 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 […]

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