I left the church when I was sixteen. It just wasn't right for me theologically or emotionally, although there was good singing. After granting my approval for conversion in Israel, the rabbis were very slow to give me the go-ahead for mikvah. So I called them every day. I told them how awful it was that they were making me live through another Sabbath before I could finally be a Jew. It turned out that's just what they wanted to hear.
My ex-husband had moved out two years before, and I knew in my mind and in my heart that the marriage was over. We had a Jewish divorce, but there was an emotional piece that I just couldn't let go of. I thought mikvah could create a way to help me bridge this difficult period. Mikvah immersion left me feeling washed free of this overlay of guilt and "what if". From that night I could look forward instead of backward. 
Through nine years of infertility, it was like a death memorial every time I got my period. And then, when I was ready to go to the mikvah each month, it was a restoration of hope – I’d had that time to mourn.Three ceramic washing cups from the Jerusalem studios of Artworks and the talented hands of Mallory Serebrin.
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