Intimate relationships bring two people together in a unique emotional and physical connection. This is something to celebrate, whether through the public festivity of a wedding, or in the private reflection of immersion in the mikvehThe ritual bath. The waters of the mikveh symbolically purify – they are seen as waters of rebirth. A convert immerses in the mikveh as part of conversion. Many Orthodox married women go to the mikveh following their period and before resuming sexual relations. Couples go to the mikveh before being married. Many, including some men, immerse before Yom Kippur; some go every Friday before Shabbat.. Sanctifying our intimate relationships elevates these unions and gives them a context of meaning and joy.
“So dear this daughter / As she prepares to immerse”
“May you join together in songs of praise, songs of joy and songs of sorrow.”
“becoming a parent is a significant lifecycle event and merits its own ritual”
“Here, in hearth of heart, / All is made whole.”
“Let your whole range of emotions surround you and wash over you like the water”
Non-Theistic Jewish Wedding Blessings
In this immersion, we will reflect and expand on our personal experiences of identity, using writing exercises and in-depth discussions to think about, challenge, discover, explore, and experiment with different ways to identify ourselves, to consider how those ways connect us to and separate us from others, and how they represent and misrepresent aspects of who we are.
Four sessions, starting June 15th
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