Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant is the author of five novels and six guidebooks to contemporary Jewish life. She lives in the Boston area and is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh.
Articles by Anita Diamant
Filling the Grave
Shoveling dirt onto the coffin is the family's final ritual act of honoring the dead.
Tenaim: The Conditions of Marriage
Contemporary couples are reinterpreting an old ceremony that set the financial and logistical arrangements for an upcoming marriage
The Covenant of Circumcision
Male converts to Judaism are traditionally required to undergo circumcision or, if already circumcised, a ritual removal of a single drop of blood.
Preparing for the Mikveh
Plan ahead to enhance the spirituality of the immersion experience; a mikveh or mikvah, a ritual bath, tends more toward the functional than the spiritual.
How to Pick a Hebrew Name
One of the joys of being "like a newborn baby" after the conversion is that you get to pick a Hebrew name--which is easier than you may think.
Developing a Relationship With the Born-Jewish Family
A convert must step gingerly across a minefield of long-held expectations, sometimes complicated by ambivalence toward Jewishness.
Developing a Relationship With Israel and the Holocaust
Conversion transforms formerly neutral territory into emotionally fraught real estate.
Telling Parents About Conversion
Plenty of empathy and emotional support can help most parents to understand and ultimately accept their child's decision to convert.
Viddui: The Deathbed Confession
Traditional and liberal possibilities for this little-known practice