Miriam’s Eternal Well
Chapter 20 in the book of Numbers divides between the generation that left Egypt, and the generation that will enter [...]
Treating Sexual Trauma– Lessons We Can All Learn
Open communication about expectations, relevant history and current needs and curiosities will bring a couple much closer emotionally and lead them to greater sexual comfort and satisfaction.
Finding My Spiritual Voice at the Mikveh
photo by Shelley Shafran I used to be a devout person. I walked around with God’s presence on [...]
Pour Out Your Heart Like Water
Pour out your heart like water; for you are in the presence of Hashem (Lamentations 2:19). photo by Paul [...]
Reclaiming the Mikveh After Divorce
By: Judith I first started going to the mikveh when I got married at the age of thirty six. I [...]
A Place for Me to be Reborn
It didn’t matter that it was hard or that my husband wouldn’t be awake or care at all. It didn’t matter that the past few years had been so hard I felt a massive wall between me and God……. because at that moment, he cracked the wall and was allowing me in. I got ready for the mikveh, b’simcha. Wanting to reconnect. Wanting to cleanse. Wanting to get rid of the impurities in my life and be born anew, ready to face the world in a clear and true way with Hashem and my husband beside me.
Waterline
My body tells the story of my life. I carry with me the marks of bruises and bumps, of accidents [...]
That One Time I Loved Niddah
I’m torn between mourning for a missed opportunity, the relief of a brand new beginning, and the celebration I used to feel at the end of niddah, before the infertility monster reared its ugly head.
Harchakot are Hard
‘The harchakot are hard’.This is true. However, complete the thought: : ‘The fact that this is hard means I deeply love my spouse, and I am grateful for that awareness,’ or ‘I am going to use this opportunity to show love in new and creative ways, maybe in conversation or through a small act of love that only my spouse will understand,’ or ‘This separation is a way for me to care for myself, a Shabbat for my body that reminds me to practice self-care and that rejuvenates me to give with a full heart’?
The Lump at the Lake
There are debates as to whether women should check for breast cancer when they are preparing for the mikveh. My story is one of those that proves to me how consciously feeling/checking over one’s breasts during “iyun” can save lives. Might I have found it without iyun -- yes, but it’s likely that it would have been months later and more dangerous. While I could have found another way to routinely check my breasts, it’s unlikely that I would have. Though I will never immerse in that lake without negative flashbacks, I bless my dark night at the lake and thank God that I was able to inspect my body to keep it healthy.
To Touch the Darkness
The Eden Center is focusing its work this year on ‘Immersion in Inclusion’; educating and sensitizing mikveh attendants and the [...]
Choosing the Birth Control Right for You; The Diaphragm
So, do you know where your cervix is? Not the first question I expected to hear as I embarked on [...]
Mikveh: For the Women, By the Women
It was about 35 years ago. Women’s roles within the Orthodox community weren’t a hot topic, but my curiosity was [...]
Riling Up Emotions
As a young girl learning about menstruation for the first time, my favorite book on the subject featured a double-page [...]
Coming Back to the Mikveh
When my husband and I felt our family was complete I chose a birth control that would accommodate that decision. [...]
International Immersions– Mikveh when Traveling
The upcoming summer, and the traveling that comes with the season, has me thinking of the many times my mikveh [...]
Empathy and Compassion; A Mikveh Visualization
This piece was presented to mikveh attendants and rebbetzins at Atlanta’s Infertility Sensitivity Training run by the Jewish Fertility Foundation [...]
Red Cuticles Should be Red Flags
Even after 5 years of going to the mikveh, even though my husband would notice my bright red cuticles and say “this can’t be right”, though I my relearned the rules of mikveh preparation with an absolutely wonderful kallah teacher, I couldn’t shake my anxiety around the mikveh.