Natural Immersion: Accessible Mikveh for Converts During COVID-19
Rabbis Susan Goldberg and Nefesh community member Hadley in the Jewish Journal, August 19, 2020:
“I just wanted to do whatever would be halachic and possible as soon as possible,” said Hadley Sorsby-Jones, who immersed in Newport Bay last week, with her sponsoring rabbi, Susan Goldberg, and Sorsby-Jones’ partner as witnesses. The other members of her virtual beit din were present at a distance, she told the Journal.
“It was a really positive experience,” Sorsby-Jones said. “Rabbi Susan driving all the way from Los Angeles added a lot to the ceremony. I enjoyed the natural water, and it was celebratory to be finally Jewish.”
“It was a beautiful experience to walk into the living waters of the Pacific Ocean with Hadley,” Goldberg, founder of Nefesh, told the Journal. “In these ever-changing times, to enter into the water with ancient blessings and to witness the open-hearted commitment to becoming a Jew was breathtaking. I was honored to be alongside her even in the chilly waters.”