I've waited 15 years for this.It took 15 years for my immersion in a mikvah to be a neutral experience. Not traumatic. Not painful. Neutral. From the very first time immersing in a mikvah, a few days before my wedding, I was on my own. Searching in the dark, in unfamiliar territory.

There is a moment in the day that belongs neither to daylight nor to night. The sun has already slipped behind the mountains, the sky glows first orange, then crimson, and finally deep blue, while the stars are still reluctant to appear. It is a suspended moment - delicate, elusive, impossible to grasp. The Sages call it ben hashemashot, literally "between the suns": the interval stretching from sunset, shkiyah, until the appearance of the stars, tzeit hakochavim.

Ever been at a gathering and something breaks accidentally and, at the sound of shattering glass everyone jokingly shouts “Mazal tov!”? It’s one of the most ironic reactions embedded into our Jewish culture – that the sound of breaking glass triggers a raucous shout of joy and celebration.