Mikveh Ladies

It has been 20 years since my official conversion to Judaism.  At that time, there were four of us (Nell, Peggy, Ruth and me) who were all somewhere in the process of learning, thinking about converting, fretting about it. At Ruth's suggestion, we started to meet -- actually we started to meet after I went to the mikveh in the spring of 1995 because she was so taken aback at her reaction to the speed of my decision-making. She had been dithering about it for years, partly because she was raised in a church and was a Unitarian as an adult. It was not a simple decision for her.  So she asked if I would come and tell the rest of them what it was like, and how I was able to decide to take the leap.

We met now and then, named ourselves the Mikveh Ladies, and after we all eventually completed the ritual, we all went on to have very active Jewish lives. We all had children about the same age so we had plenty to do, keeping up with the holidays, taking kids to religious school.  But in addition, each of us took the lead in our Jewish community in some way.   Nell became the music teacher for our temple, Peggy and I both became Hebrew teachers, Ruth went to work for the Union for Reform Judaism in the Outreach department.  I also became a lay leader, starting out by serving on the Preschool Board, then helping to get the building addition built and moving on up through the ranks of the Board of Trustees, serving two years as President, etc.  We have all done our share, making a big contribution of time to our congregation.

Now we are all older, our kids are grown and out of the house, and Ruth thought it would be good if we got together again to observe this 20th anniversary.  She asked Rabbi Gold if she would like to shepherd us -- and the rabbi said she would be honored.  So we have met twice now; today was our second meeting.  Sometime in December we will all go to the mikveh together, to celebrate this milestone.

The first meeting we talked about what our hopes and goals might be for this series of gatherings.  We talked about ethical wills, what we remembered about our first trip to the mikveh, and what we remembered about the studying we did way back when.

This time we talked about God and what that might mean to us, and whether our perceptions have changed over the years. Rabbi Gold had a gentle series of questions ready for us, helping us to reflect on our sense of who we are and how we have changed.

(Just before the last person arrived, I got a call from Carrie in upstate New York telling me that there was a freight truck that needed to be unloaded in the stand parking lot. Since Jon is in Shreveport, I had no choice but to go back to the farm and unload the plow blade.  It took me 40 minutes round trip. I didn't miss too much.)

At our next meeting we are supposed to tell some of our best/strongest Jewish memories.