Yonah and the Mikveh Fish

Yonah and the Mikveh Fish:

a childrens book

by Haviva Ner-David

Meet Yonah, a quirky kid obsessed with fish, who is about to start kindergarten.

Meet Yonah, a quirky kid obsessed with fish, who is about to start kindergarten. The day before school starts, Yonah’s parents take her to the mikveh, a ritual immersion pool, to mark her transition from preschool to kindergarten. When her brother, who also went to the mikveh when he was starting kindergarten, tells her she’ll love the fish at the mikveh, she is excited to go. But when she goes into the pool to dunk, she can’t find the fish. Was her brother just teasing? Read Yonah and the Mikveh Fish to find out!.

Yonah and the Mikveh Fish was born from the desire of Rabbi Haviva Ner-David and Cantor Rachel Stock Spilker, both involved in the open mikveh movement, to introduce the ritual of full body mikveh immersion to children and their families. Mikveh is an experiential and meaningful option for people of all ages to mark transitions, significant occasions, and life cycle events.

Over the past twenty years, there has been a mikveh renaissance in the progressive Jewish world. Open community mikvaot (plural of mikveh) — where people can immerse how and when they choose – are popping up around the globe. By following lovable Yonah as she prepares for kindergarten at the mikveh, we hope children and adults will begin to imagine going to the mikveh themselves.

“I love everything about this book. With delightful story-telling and illustrations, this joyful book for children is engaging and fun and—added benefit—ripples outward our understanding of what mikveh can be.”

“The mikveh has been reborn. In this charming story about the new uses of mikveh, young readers are able to peer inside its welcoming waters with excitement and anticipation. This picture book will go a long way in also allaying the fears of anyone using the mikveh—for whatever reason—for the first time.”

“Yonah and the Mikveh Fish is a delightful book. Each page is a work of art, with expressive and adorable illustrations that bring the characters and story alive. What seems a simple tale is actually a deep, spiritual introduction to this ancient sacred ritual. There is so much heart in the words and images, you will fall in love and want to read the book again and again with the children in your life. But Yonah and the Mikveh Fish is not just for kids. It’s for all who seek to deepen and expand our faith journey and get in touch with our inner playful and wonder-filled child.”

“Yonah’s dip in the mikveh before starting kindergarten gives children a loving, simple, kid-friendly, and clear introduction to this basic Jewish tradition. With this humorous and moving story, Rabbi Haviva Ner-David and Cantor Rachel Stock Spilker have filled a major gap in Jewish children’s literature.”

Articles, Reviews, Awards and Event Recordings

New Book Brings Idea Of Going To The Mikveh To Kids – TC Jew Folk

Mysterious mikveh fish helps educate kids about ritual bath – Times of Israel

About the Author

Haviva Ner-David is a writer and rabbi. In 2006 she became the first woman to publicly receive Orthodox rabbinic ordination, only to leave Orthodoxy and call herself a post-denominational rabbi. Ten years later, she received interfaith ordination from the One Spirit Interfaith-Interspiritual Seminary and now goes by post-denominational inter-spiritual rabbi.

She writes both fiction and non-fiction and is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs, a novel, short stories, essays, a blog on Times of Israel, scholarly articles and a guidebook for engaged couples. Her short story, “Blame,” won the 2016 Lilith Magazine short fiction contest.
Link to short story.

Her rabbinic specialties are spiritual companionship, water immersion rituals, wedding and marriage preparation, coming of age ceremonies and other ritual and ceremony creation and innovation. Founding rabbi of Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul on Kibbutz Hannaton in the Lower Galilee, she officiates and helps create on-site personalized immersion ritual ceremonies and facilitates group mikveh workshops. As a spiritual companion, she works with individuals and couples and specializes in dreamwork, inner child work and nature soul work, as well as general sacred listening.