Mikveh Guides help transform the ordinary into the holy. Mayyim Hayyim offers an online course called Seven Steps where people learn best practices for making guests feel welcomed, safe, and supported, and where they gain skills for becoming a mikveh ambassador in their local community. Drawing from rabbinic sources, current psychology and the experiences of contemporary mikveh attendants, this eight-week training offers the knowledge and skills to facilitate immersions with dignity, respect, and modesty. Sign up for the Rising Tide Newsletter for updates about our next global cohort: http://eepurl.com/gw89VH

Slowly descend the steps into the mikveh waters and immerse completely so that every part of your body is covered by the water. When you emerge, recite the following blessing:

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם    Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha’olam  

אשר קדשנו בטבילה במים חיים   asher kidshanu bi-t’vilah b’mayyim hayyim.

Blessed are You, God, Majestic Spirit of the Universe

who makes us holy by embracing us in living waters. (1)

Clip source: Mayyim Hayyim

Water plays a major role in the sacred narrative of the Jewish people. For example, the passage of the Hebrews through the waters of the Red Sea marked their transformation from a tribe of slaves to a free people. 

Mikveh symbolically enacts changes in personal status for individuals. The most common and best-known purposes of ritual immersion include niddah, a time of physical separation between partners during a menstrual cycle, and conversion to Judaism, which is finalized by immersion in a mikveh. 

Historically, Jews have elected to immerse at other times as well, such as in preparation for Shabbat and during the ninth month of pregnancy. Today, Jews immerse for a variety of reasons, such as: to celebrate milestone events like bar and bat mitzvah, graduation, or significant birthday and anniversaries; to signify a new start in the aftermath of pain and trauma; to mark the end of a period of grief; and to heal after miscarriage, chemotherapy, or assault. 

to be read at the mikveh’s edge before entering the water:

As I step into the waters of the mikveh, I am mindful of the steps I have already taken on this journey to become pregnant once again. Gently holding the difficulties I experienced in the past, with some trepidation I move forward with hope and expectation. I step into these living waters to be supported and protected with my physical and mental well-being.

Clip source: Mayyim Hayyim

The mission of the Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network, an initiative of Mayyim Hayyim, is to inspire, strengthen and support communities that embrace an open, inclusive and welcoming approach to ritual immersion as a way to mark life transitions. 

We believe that providing for the spiritual needs of the entire spectrum of Jewish people will help create a more vibrant, welcoming, and inclusive community for everyone. 

Our goal is to foster a network so comprehensive that no one will have to travel far to access a Rising Tide mikveh experience. Find a local mikveh at: https://risingtideopenwaters.org/members/

To be read before you immerse:

As I welcome my child, I pray for strength, patience, and resilience. May the One who blessed those who came before me, guide me. May I be a role model, an active parent, and a source of encouragement.

I pray that in difficult times I have the strength to ask for help, and that in good times I have the wherewithal to appreciate the joys and blessings of my life.

May I know all the happiness and contentment that comes with watching a child grow and flourish.

Relax and let your body soften, as you slowly and completely immerse for the third time:

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha’olam shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu la’zman hazeh.

Blessed are You, Eternal God, for giving me life, sustaining me, and, through one miracle after another, bringing me to this moment.

Source: Mayyim Hayyim, Interpretive English translation by Matia Rania Angelou, Deborah Issokson, and Judith D. Kummer