2008-09-17T16:48:26Z Many Waters: women's reflections on mikvah and taharat hamishpacha tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2008://4 Movable Type Copyright (c) 2008, desde 2008-09-17T16:48:26Z 2008-09-17T12:48:26-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2008://4.764 2008-09-17T16:48:26Z

Using the mikvah usually involves all of 4 people knowing where I'm going: me, my husband, the shomeret, and the bookkeeper. Read about the time when going to the mikvah became an adventure involving more like 12 different people!

desde Mikvah Using the mikvah usually involves all of 4 people knowing where I'm going: me, my husband, the shomeret, and the bookkeeper. Read about the time when going to the mikvah became an adventure involving more like 12 different people! 2008-07-25T14:20:28Z 2008-07-25T10:20:28-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2008://4.763 2008-07-25T14:20:28Z

Just when I thought I had it all under control, Hashem threw me a curve ball. The mikvah thing was getting so much easier now that I wasn't dreading the water, didn't panic just thinking about putting my head under, wasn't shaking with fear as I walked down the steps into the mikvah. I thought I had the routine down pat. And then this.

desde Mikvah Just when I thought I had it all under control, Hashem threw me a curve ball. The mikvah thing was getting so much easier now that I wasn't dreading the water, didn't panic just thinking about putting my head under, wasn't shaking with fear as I walked down the steps into the mikvah. I thought I had the routine down pat. And then this. 2007-07-06T01:15:27Z 2007-07-05T21:15:27-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.761 2007-07-06T01:15:27Z

We are pleased to host the online edition of the Et Lirchok Pamphlet, which addresses various emotional and psychological concerns relating to taharat hamishpacha. Check it out!...

zz-guest We are pleased to host the online edition of the Et Lirchok Pamphlet, which addresses various emotional and psychological concerns relating to taharat hamishpacha. Check it out!... 2007-04-15T06:12:47Z 2007-04-15T02:12:47-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.760 2007-04-15T06:12:47Z

The other day I was talking with someone about publishing a guide to synagogues, comparable to the Zagat guide for restaurants. That sounds fine, I said, but what the Jewish community really needs is a Zagat guide to mikvahs. What would you want it to cover, he asked? So many things, at first my brain was working too fast for anything out to come out of my mouth. The number one question, if you...

eden Mikvah The other day I was talking with someone about publishing a guide to synagogues, comparable to the Zagat guide for restaurants. That sounds fine, I said, but what the Jewish community really needs is a Zagat guide to mikvahs. What would you want it to cover, he asked? So many things, at first my brain was working too fast for anything out to come out of my mouth. The number one question, if you... 2007-02-26T17:05:31Z 2007-02-26T12:05:31-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.759 2007-02-26T17:05:31Z

Now you have an opportunity to contribute to ongoing research on taharat hamishpacha! Take part in a large-scale internet survey for Jews of all denominations. The survey is for both singles and married people, men and women, and your responses remain anonymous. You can find the survey here....

zz-guest Now you have an opportunity to contribute to ongoing research on taharat hamishpacha! Take part in a large-scale internet survey for Jews of all denominations. The survey is for both singles and married people, men and women, and your responses remain anonymous. You can find the survey here.... 2007-02-14T02:35:12Z 2007-02-13T21:35:12-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.758 2007-02-14T02:35:12Z

I have been seeing a gentleman and it appears to have real potential. My biggest issue to date is that he isn't frum very long. In fact, the gap in yiddishkeit knowledge between the two of us is pretty vast. I lived and practiced TH for six years. He has ZERO knowledge of TH, much less practice of it. It was a delicate issue to bring up, but since he hasn't been frum very long,...

vasserveibel Starting Out and Learning I have been seeing a gentleman and it appears to have real potential. My biggest issue to date is that he isn't frum very long. In fact, the gap in yiddishkeit knowledge between the two of us is pretty vast. I lived and practiced TH for six years. He has ZERO knowledge of TH, much less practice of it. It was a delicate issue to bring up, but since he hasn't been frum very long,... 2007-01-11T12:04:39Z 2007-01-11T07:04:39-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.757 2007-01-11T12:04:39Z

When we were dating, and when we were engaged, I heard my soon-to-be-husband talk a lot about his rebbeim. . . . When, a month or two after our wedding, I had to deal with some impossible personal problems, my husband had one piece of advice. “Call my rebbe,” he said.

zz-guest Shailahs and Bedikot rebbeim. . . . When, a month or two after our wedding, I had to deal with some impossible personal problems, my husband had one piece of advice. “Call my rebbe,” he said.]]> 2007-01-10T04:55:47Z 2007-01-09T23:55:47-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.756 2007-01-10T04:55:47Z

If you read this post and this post, you know that I am now using two forms of birth control, and that I don't always remember to use both. This time I forgot the pill -- for three days! -- and I didn't realize it until I spontaneously started bleeding. To be fair to myself, I didn't just "forget" for three consecutive days. I take several medications, and I usually put them, along with the...

ruchama Being Niddah If you read this post and this post, you know that I am now using two forms of birth control, and that I don't always remember to use both. This time I forgot the pill -- for three days! -- and I didn't realize it until I spontaneously started bleeding. To be fair to myself, I didn't just "forget" for three consecutive days. I take several medications, and I usually put them, along with the... 2007-01-04T04:58:50Z 2007-01-03T23:58:50-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2007://4.755 2007-01-04T04:58:50Z

Hirhurim has had some interesting posts recently on what is often called "halachic" or "Orthodox" inferility -- the infertility that results when an observant woman ovulates before the end of her seven "clean" days. The posts (here and here) are based on a media controversy that began in the Israeli religious Zionist publication HaTzofeh. In a March article, Rivka Shimon, a kallah teacher who advocated the abolition of the seven "clean days" in a Maariv...

ruchama Hashkafa (Philosophy) Hirhurim has had some interesting posts recently on what is often called "halachic" or "Orthodox" inferility -- the infertility that results when an observant woman ovulates before the end of her seven "clean" days. The posts (here and here) are based on a media controversy that began in the Israeli religious Zionist publication HaTzofeh. In a March article, Rivka Shimon, a kallah teacher who advocated the abolition of the seven "clean days" in a Maariv... 2006-08-30T15:55:36Z 2006-08-30T11:55:36-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.738 2006-08-30T15:55:36Z

I came across a comment on beyondbt (a blog for and by "returnees" to observant Judaism) that was very very disturbing. This poor woman actually stopped using the mikvah and practicing T"H and all other mitzvot because a mikvah attendant criticized her for having trouble with the brocha? Instead of helping her?

desde Mikvah a comment on beyondbt (a blog for and by "returnees" to observant Judaism) that was very very disturbing. This poor woman actually stopped using the mikvah and practicing T"H and all other mitzvot because a mikvah attendant criticized her for having trouble with the brocha? Instead of helping her?]]> 2006-08-24T22:04:42Z 2006-08-24T18:04:42-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.737 2006-08-24T22:04:42Z

Last year, I wrote about how I'm never tehorah on my anniversary. This year, though, for some reason, my cycle was such that I could have immersed the night before my anniversary. I could have -- except that my in-laws were coming to town to take Husband and me out to dinner, and they had scheduled the meal to overlap entirely with the mikvah's hours. Since they would already be here, they were going to...

ruchama Mikvah Last year, I wrote about how I'm never tehorah on my anniversary. This year, though, for some reason, my cycle was such that I could have immersed the night before my anniversary. I could have -- except that my in-laws were coming to town to take Husband and me out to dinner, and they had scheduled the meal to overlap entirely with the mikvah's hours. Since they would already be here, they were going to... 2006-08-18T13:01:00Z 2006-08-18T09:01:00-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.736 2006-08-18T13:01:00Z

The Kallah, a dear friend of ours, was a guest at our Shabbos table the week before her wedding. "May I call you tomorrow?" she asked. "I have some questions... and I would like to ask them of you." Hmm... I thought, a Kallah, a week before her wedding, has questions, and it sounds like it doesn't really need to be me who answers them... must be about mikvah. And I was honored that she'd...

zz-guest Mikvah The Kallah, a dear friend of ours, was a guest at our Shabbos table the week before her wedding. "May I call you tomorrow?" she asked. "I have some questions... and I would like to ask them of you." Hmm... I thought, a Kallah, a week before her wedding, has questions, and it sounds like it doesn't really need to be me who answers them... must be about mikvah. And I was honored that she'd... 2006-07-26T02:52:59Z 2006-07-25T22:52:59-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.734 2006-07-26T02:52:59Z

If you're like me, when you started keep TH you had to retrain yourself. Retrain yourself to not look at the toilet paper after you wiped. I can tell you of many occasions when I put myself into niddah earlier than I expected. There's nothing quite like having to figure out how you're going to get that "used" piece of toilet paper home from Yankee Stadium to show to the rov. Oh yeah, I've got...

vasserveibel Shailahs and Bedikot If you're like me, when you started keep TH you had to retrain yourself. Retrain yourself to not look at the toilet paper after you wiped. I can tell you of many occasions when I put myself into niddah earlier than I expected. There's nothing quite like having to figure out how you're going to get that "used" piece of toilet paper home from Yankee Stadium to show to the rov. Oh yeah, I've got... 2006-07-06T21:39:30Z 2006-07-06T17:39:30-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.731 2006-07-06T21:39:30Z

It's been a long time. I just today had the werewithall to look at the sight. TH and Mikvah have been so far out of my line of sight for so long I couldn't wrap my head around it. BH things have been good. And I've been able to see a few(!) positive aspects of not going to the mikvah. I don't miss the counting, I don't miss the bedikahs, I don't miss the last...

vasserveibel Psychological Aspects It's been a long time. I just today had the werewithall to look at the sight. TH and Mikvah have been so far out of my line of sight for so long I couldn't wrap my head around it. BH things have been good. And I've been able to see a few(!) positive aspects of not going to the mikvah. I don't miss the counting, I don't miss the bedikahs, I don't miss the last... 2006-06-05T01:15:46Z 2006-06-04T21:15:46-05:00 tag:www.mayimrabim.com,2006://4.730 2006-06-05T01:15:46Z

For those who haven't been keeping up, I'm on two forms of birth control now: a low-dose pill and a diaphragm. This is because a medication that I'm taking compromises the effectiveness of the pill. It's just as well that I have backup, because I can be a bit of a scatterbrain. Case in point: Last month, when I came back from the mikvah, I forgot to use the diaphragm. I tried not to worry...

ruchama Psychological Aspects For those who haven't been keeping up, I'm on two forms of birth control now: a low-dose pill and a diaphragm. This is because a medication that I'm taking compromises the effectiveness of the pill. It's just as well that I have backup, because I can be a bit of a scatterbrain. Case in point: Last month, when I came back from the mikvah, I forgot to use the diaphragm. I tried not to worry...