It's Not That Different

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Leeann Simons, Mikveh Guide From the Mayyim Hayyim vaults, written almost 9 years ago. Last night I had the privilege of being part of one woman’s healing ritual. She had been sexually assaulted by a former “good” friend, and was coming to us as part of her moving forward with her life. What I want to […]

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The Violin and the Joods Bad

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by Iris Adams I’ve always been curious about the tradition of mikveh, so I was pleased to accept an invitation to visit Mayyim Hayyim in June with a group of women from the Merrimack Valley.  When I walked through the gate by a pretty white and blue tiled bench set among greenery and gardens, I […]

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Transmikveh

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by A. Fox In my parents’ home back in St. Paul, Minnesota, I used to tiptoe into the bathroom late at night, lock the door behind me, put a towel in the door’s crack and turn off the lights. I knew how many steps it took to reach the faucet. How many inches to lift my hand for […]

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Orange is the New Black but Mikveh is the New Orange

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by Leah Wittenberg, Mayyim Hayyim Intern  “There was a mikfa on oitnb!” This was the slightly confusing text I received from one of my friends who is not Jewish, but knows I am interning at a mikveh, Mayyim Hayyim, this summer. She is also in tune with Judaism due to all the Friday nights she has spent […]

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Springing Forward

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by DeDe Jacobs-Komisar, Development Manager “Spring,” that mythic season of thaw and bloom, arrives this weekend. Boston has yet to be convinced. It’s 26 degrees outside as I write this, with the same three feet of snow on the ground as have been there since January. Last week it was sunny and got up to […]

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Mikveh

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by Nancy Sohn Schwartz Originally posted on Rabbitziona.com. Reposted with permission from author. Three months ago, just after my 69th birthday, I went to the mikveh. It was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Ten years ago, while attending a CAJE Conference at Ohio State University, I was approached by a man, […]

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Why I Want a Mikveh–the Next Generation

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by Emilia Diamant Last week at a planning meeting for the Girls Night Out event, I was asked to respond to the question: “Why do you want a mikveh?” Many in the room shared answers about their personal immersions, family experiences, or just generally liking the idea of the place. When it came my turn, […]

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Jonah in the Belly of the Big Fish: A Pre-Yom Kippur Immersion

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by 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 […]

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Together in Our Separateness

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by 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 […]

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Rain Rain Go Away?

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by Samantha Testa, Development Intern   On my first day of my internship at Mayyim Hayyim it was pouring rain.  As I was greeted by staff, I remarked that I hated the rain. Leah’s response effectively changed the way I think about rain. Leah said that she, too, didn’t like the rain, but after working […]

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A Buried Treasure in Ubeda Spain

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by 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 […]

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