Spirituality In Jewish Life
"I like the word Halacha, or pathway, to describe spirituality because Judaism has more than one pathway," said Anita Diamant from her home in Boston.
Anita believes that for Jewish people, spirituality can be accomplished through mitzvoth, or 'doing things', like the lighting of candles, giving food, and going for purifying immersions in baths called mikvahs.
Understanding The Role Of A 'Mikvah'
The Hebrew word mikvah literally means a collection and generally refers to a collection of water. According to some biblical regulations, full immersion in water is required in order to regain purity. Traditional mikvahs are in contact with a natural source of water, such as a spring or groundwater well.
Many Jewish women go to the mikvah after menstruation or childbirth or before getting married while men use it to purify themselves before holidays or before their sons are circumcised. People who convert to Judaism are also frequently immersed in a mikvah in their conversion ceremony.
It was this last use that prompted Anita Diamant to establish Mayyim Hayyim, a community mikvah and education center in Boston.
Six years ago, after her husband converted to Judaism, Diamant realized that the only mikvah in Boston was an ugly, pitiful place with no room to sit. She wanted the families of people who are converting to Judaism as well as the converts to have a place that was beautiful, welcoming and befitting of such a magnanimous ceremony.
Diamant, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, explains that after she fell in love with a non-Jewish man who was already on the path to conversion, she decided to study with him and learn more about Judaism and the conversion process. When he converted, she realized how important it was for families to attend the ceremony.
Anita Creates Her Own Mikvah
"It was my dream to create a mikvah where time and space were available for converts and their family and friends," she said. "In Boston the only mikvah was in an Orthodox synagogue, situated near some washing machines in a place not built for conversion ceremonies. I thought people should get a more beautiful welcome and their families should have a place to enjoy the ceremony with them."
Today, that dream is a thriving reality in Boston, where the lovely new Maim Hayyim center stands in a beautiful old Victorian home that was renovated.
The mikvah has natural light and a place for people to sit during the ceremony. "We've had over 900 conversion ceremonies there so far," said Diamant, who added that it is also used by people who have undergone chemotherapy or divorce.
For Diamant, the ritual of the mikvah combines the importance of the body and mind. "It is a ritual that requires the physical and the mental, and it's good for both physical and spiritual healing."
Anita's Novel The Red Tent
An award-winning journalist and the author of six non-fiction guides to Jewish living, Diamant wrote her first novel, The Red Tent, in 1997. Controversial because it treads upon the sacred ground of Biblical text, the novel retells the story of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter (from the Biblical book of Genesis, Chapter 34), with what some people have labeled a feminist interpretation.
By transforming a silent and obscure Dinah into the narrator of her own life, Diamant gives a female perspective on the episode commonly known as the 'Rape of Dinah.' The life of women in ancient society at a time when they were largely segregated from men and sequestered to a red tent during menstruation, childbirth and illness forms a fascinating historical backdrop in the novel.
The long-ignored viewpoints of Dinah and her four mothers, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, are recounted, and women's lives and friendships are explored in a pre-monotheistic civilization, before the birth of Judaism.
"I was trying to reclaim a portion of women's lost history," said Diamant, who did not set out to create a scandal. Rather, her goal was to write an entertaining novel. "I am happily and proudly a feminist, which simply means I conform to the radical idea that women are human beings too," Diamant said.
"I wanted to know where the girls were in all of these stories. We've heard from the kings and the generals. We know their version of history. I wanted to explore the holes in our stories and myths. The Bible seemed like a great place to start."
Diamant's transition from non-fiction to fiction also marked a turning point in her life. Just after her 40th birthday, she was seeking new challenges and decided to write a novel. When it was first published, The Red Tent was an orphan novel, which meant no money was available for marketing it because its editor was fired from the publishing house one month before.
Diamant explains that this is a relatively common phenomenon in the publishing world, but it can have a devastating effect on book sales. Thus, after selling 20,000 copies, the remaining 500 books were slated for destruction. At the last minute, Diamant asked that the copies be sent to rabbis, priests, and women's books club leaders instead. Once it reached its audience, the word began to spread. Today, The Red Tent has been translated into over 20 languages and sold over 2 million copies around the world.