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On May 14, 2004, Mayyim Hayyim opened the doors to its home in a renovated Victorian home, in Newton, Massachusetts. New construction included two beautiful immersion pools – mikva’ot – four preparation suites, and a welcoming reception area. The original house became a multipurpose facility that now serves as an education center, celebration venue, and art gallery. Diamant’s dream became a reality thanks to hard work and support from volunteers and donors in the greater Boston Jewish community.
The goal is for visitors to the mikveh to emerge refreshed and renewed, ready for life’s next gifts. In 2018, Mayyim Hayyim entered into a partnership with the Jewish Arts Collaborative, an organization that shares our commitment to presenting high quality art that inspires. Working together, we will welcome new audiences to the gallery and become a resource for Jewish arts education. In general, Mayyim Hayyim’s Path to Financial Clarity with BooksTime the goal is to remove anything that separates you from the water. However, according to Jewish law, if you are unable to remove a particular piece of jewelry, you are permitted to immerse with it, after rotating it around under the water. Likewise, acrylic nails that have been on for more than 30 days are considered a part of your body and do not have to be removed for immersion.
A resource for learning, spiritual discovery and creativity for all
In a way, it was inspiring to see men, women, and children waiting, wanting to become Jews. Anita Diamant is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and the Paula J. Brody & Education Center in Newton, Massachusetts. A groundbreaking model of an ancient ritual reinvented for the 21st century, Mayyim Hayyim is an international resource for study, celebration, and authentic, creative Jewish spirituality. In addition to traditional purposes, new uses include celebrations for milestone events such as a graduation, the end of a period of study, or an important birthday or anniversary. Immersion in the mikveh can also signify a new start in the aftermath of pain and trauma. Immersion provides an opportunity to mark the end of formal grieving or the beginning of healing from events such as suffering a miscarriage, undergoing chemotherapy, completing a year of bereavement, and recovering from divorce, rape or abuse.
Mayyim Hayyim opened in 2004 and by the end of 2014, it had hosted more than 2,000 conversions and nearly 14,000 immersions over all. Every year, more than 2500 people come to study, tour, and celebrate with family and friends in its education center. Mayyim Hayyim consults to existing mikva’ot and communities interested in creating new mikva’ot.
An intimate center for spirituality, learning, celebration and community
The small pools are connected to the larger indoor immersion pool that shares a wall with the bor – following the hashakah or “connection” design for a kosher mikveh. The introduction of a small amount of living water from the outside bor is what makes the indoor pool a kosher mikveh. It’s a special privilege and joy for me to work closely with Mayyim Hayyim’s Budget & Finance Committee in my role as Mayyim Hayyim Administrative and Finance Director. Every quarter, or at least four times every year, Mayyim Hayyim’s Budget and Finance Committee meet to take an itemized and detailed look at Mayyim Hayyim’s numbers. I am always honored to meet with these talented financial experts, comprised of CPA’s and corporate financial executives. With their professional financial knowledge combined with their love of Mayyim Hayyim, we review all of our numbers to make sure we meet our budget goals and strategize our financial strength and health.
Amalia has worked as the Director of Jewish Student Life at the University of Arizona Hillel, and served as a rabbinic intern at Etz Chayim in Atlanta, GA. She studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies for two years, where she met her husband in the Beit Midrash (study hall). Amalia received a certificate in Experiential Education from the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators and believes that every Jew deserves literacy and meaningful access to text, tradition, and ritual. Mayyim Hayyim is an intimate center for spirituality, learning, celebration and community, an international model of Jewish creativity and vitality. This biblical reference to mikveh expresses a commitment to change, dynamism, and creativity.
Rabbi Amalia Mark (she/her)
Mayyim Hayyim has a filter/disinfectant system in the basement, through which the water to the two mikva’ot flows. There is a supply pipe and return pipe—much like a supply and return duct for air. The water is treated with bromine and Spa Shock, a safe and effective disinfectants. A handrail is provided for safety, and one of the mikva’ot also offers an aquatic lift for handicap accessibility.
- In general, the goal is to remove anything that separates you from the water.
- Please click here to learn about updated procedures, developed in partnership with infectious disease and legal experts.
- In 2018, Mayyim Hayyim entered into a partnership with the Jewish Arts Collaborative, an organization that shares our commitment to presenting high quality art that inspires.
- Even Mayyim Hayyim, a place of spiritual ritual, learning, art, and so much more, is a place of numbers.
She attended URJ Eisner camp and traveled to Israel, where she connected with Jews of all denominations and gained a deep understanding of and love for the broader Jewish community. In addition to her work within the Jewish community, Michaela has a decade of customer service experience and classical musical training, earning accolades as a top scoring soprano at the Massachusetts’s All State Choir festival. She is passionate about mikveh and its ability to uplift the soul, to heal, and to foster joy in life’s transitions. Michaela lives in Quincy and is raising a Siberian Husky puppy, as well as two Blue and Gold Macaw Parrots. Mayyim Hayyim makes mikveh accessible and meaningful for the full diversity of our people for the first time in Jewish history.
Mayyim Hayyim
When two groups from Haifa visited Mayyim Hayyim, Rabbinic Intern Aviva found herself reflecting on grief and the role of mikveh in our lives. Mayyim Hayyim is a fountain of creativity that, since its opening in 2004, inspired new liturgies and curricula, publications, music, artwork, and plays. Join the wave today with a gift to honor outgoing CEO Carrie Bornstein’s 15 years of leadership, welcome and celebrate our new CEO, and set Mayyim Hayyim on a path to sustainability and success. We’re thrilled to announce the third year of Let Justice Well Up, an initiative by and for Jewish women of color. Registration is now open for this year’s Jewish non-binary and woman of color Torah study series with erica riddick, which begins on February 14.
Julie Childers started her work as CEO of the Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh, the pluralistic ritual bath outside of Boston, in early July. But her history with the mikveh goes back to 2006, when she herself immersed there during her conversion to Judaism. As if it was no big deal to change your identity, alter your family constellation, and transform the Jewish people forever. Diamant explains that the idea for this re-imagined mivkeh came to her while working on a book about conversion to Judaism and requires immersion in a mikveh as the last ritual step in the process. On a visit to the Boston-area mikveh where conversions were permitted only two hours a week, she says, “I saw a line out the door.
Julie Childers (she/her)
Natural light pours through dormer windows, providing a glimpse of the outside while carefully preserving modesty. After sundown, lights can be lowered to enhance a sense of peace and rest. At its local “test kitchen” and innovation lab in Boston, Mayyim Hayyim is a destination for Jews across the spectrum of observance and affiliation. Visitors from around the US and, indeed, from the around the world come to Mayyim Hayyim to study, celebrate, immerse, and to be inspired about what is possible in the Jewish future. Building off of our previous success and with a vision to strengthen, inspire, and build the field we created, Mayyim Hayyim launched the Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network.
