by Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director
I’m getting on a plane today to fly (in reality) to Baltimore, but it actually feels a little more like Never Neverland. You see, six of us from the Mayyim Hayyim community are going to meet up with 35 leaders from around the country for three days for the Rising Tide Open Waters mikveh network’s first in-person gathering. Leadership from twelve other community mikva’ot will be there with us, and not only are they just as much mikveh buffs as we are, but they’re actually doing the same kind of work we’re doing in Boston, too. We have colleagues! We’re not alone!
We’re honored to be in such fine company with others who speak the same language of welcome, inclusiveness, and opening doorways into Jewish life. A strong Rising Tide network means that we’ll strengthen this field we’re building and make it easier for new communities to get started. We have so much to teach, so much to learn, and it’s wonderful to be pursuing this work.
At our gathering we’ll have representation from existing mikvehs in Washington, DC; Cleveland, OH; Portland, OR; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta, GA, Wilmette, IL; New York, NY; and Baltimore, MD. There’s also a new mikveh getting started in Newport News, VA whose leadership will be there, as well as visionaries from Miami, FL; Sacramento, CA; and St. Paul, MN who aspire to build their own community mikveh someday.
We at Mayyim Hayyim have spent a lot of time planning this gathering along with our other founding members. While I know about all the skill-building, relationship-building, and dreaming we have planned, I also know that these next three days will have an impact that none of us can begin to imagine right now.We’ll look forward to sharing more as it unfolds.
And in the meantime, you can get your own sneak peek by viewing our opening session, “Why I Want a Mikveh,” where I’ll interview Anita Diamant and Aliza Kline, tonight at 7:20pm EST, which will be streamed live on the Rising Tide Facebook page.
The Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network has fifty-five members representing twenty-one communities in all. Membership is open for additional communities to join, so while you may not be able to make it to Baltimore for our summer gathering, it’s not too late to get in on the action.
Carrie Bornstein is the Executive Director at Mayyim Hayyim.