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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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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Trust in Transition: The Story of Mayyim Hayyim’s Recent Executive Transition

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By Carrie Bornstein and Aliza Kline This article was originally published by eJewishPhilanthrophy.  [The recent leadership transition at Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center can be instructive to other organizations in transition especially those who face the change from start up to “second stage.” Now eleven years old, Mayyim Hayyim was envisioned by […]

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Of Red Leaves and Cinnamon Smells

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by Julia Becker Collins, Director of Community Engagement When I was 19, I moved from California to Massachusetts.  While I moved primarily to transfer from one college to another, it was also motivated by my desire to move back to a place with four distinct seasons.  Originally from New Jersey, I discovered after I moved […]

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Embracing the Future

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by Laura Seide, Development intern For several weeks now, I have felt as if I am teetering on a precipice, yearning to move forward, but wary of the future. Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies. Even when we want something really badly, we still hold ourselves back. Why? Is it fear? Fear of failure, […]

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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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The Most Special Person on the Planet

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by Lisa Berman, Education Center Director It’s a good day when you create a program described as “absolutely, amazingly, awesomely phenomenal.”  Frankly, it’s even better when a 12 year old says, “I thought that the girls would all have been forced to come by their moms, but we were all genuinely interested – and it […]

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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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On Winter's Spring

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by Katherine Trakhtenbroit I hail from a land currently crisped by drought. There are great stretches of live oak trees and loblolly pines along the bayou; when I was small they were thick with glossy leaves and pungent needles. Now, it’s all orange and brown and parched. So, down there, we know deeply the transformative […]

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Marking Transitions

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by Jody Comins, Development and Events Coordinator My children came home from camp last week after being gone for seven weeks.  The first day, my 13 year-old daughter, Talia, took to her bed. Itouch in hand, she spent the day crying, listening to music and facebooking with friends that she just left that morning. She […]

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