{"id":1552,"date":"2025-06-14T18:13:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T22:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/?page_id=1552"},"modified":"2025-06-14T18:13:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T22:13:57","slug":"rachel-ackoff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/rachel-ackoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Ackoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1553\" style=\"width:344px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/Headshot-Rachel-Ackoff-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the narrator:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rachel Ackoff grew up Jewish outside of Maine and has had personal experience with mikvahs for various reasons throughout her life. Now based in Portland, she works as the campaigns director for the Maine People\u2019s Alliance and is actively involved in monthly outdoor mikvah excursions held on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish month. Rachel embraces mikvah as a reflective and inclusive ritual, believing that it does not require a specific reason to be meaningful. Her perspective highlights the evolving role of mikvahs, the importance of accessibility, and the need for inclusivity in modern Jewish practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this excerpt from her interview with Tucker Reinhard on January 19, 2025 in Portland, Ackoff reflects on the mikvah as a healing space that affirms wholeness even in brokenness, offering both a sense of divine connection and a personal commitment to one\u2019s own healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/ACKOFF_EXCERPT.wav\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transcript:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a recognition that we are whole and complete even in our brokenness. And that the waters are healing, but also there&#8217;s something divine for those who are into that kind of thing.\u00a0There&#8217;s certainly an opportunity for divine connection, but also, it&#8217;s like we have the power to heal ourselves. And we&#8217;re showing up for our healing.\u00a0And the mikvah is a partner in that.&#8221; &#8211; Rachel Ackoff<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Rachel Ackoff&#8217;s full oral history interview is available through Colby&#8217;s Special Collections &amp; Archives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the interviewer:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tucker Reinhard is a sophomore at Colby College majoring in Economics and minoring in Math and Statistics. Raised Christian but not actively practicing, Reinhard approached this interview with curiosity and a commitment to making the discussion accessible for those with varying levels of familiarity with Judaism. This was his first time meeting Rachel in person, but they quickly connected, especially over their shared interest in outdoor mikvah rituals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After learning about the diversity of perspectives on mikvah use even within the Maine Jewish community, he realized that those difference were what interested him most. &#8220;To me, it really seemed like there was no right or wrong answer and that is something I really enjoyed,&#8221; Reinhard wrote. &#8220;The Jewish community in Maine is able to all have differing ideas and rituals but at the same time still accept each other. No one is saying someone else&#8217;s way is wrong; simply that this is their preferred way. To me it seems that it&#8217;s by doing this that the Jewish community of Maine is able to come together and thrive.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About the narrator: Rachel Ackoff grew up Jewish outside of Maine and has had personal experience with mikvahs for various reasons throughout her life. Now based in Portland, she works as the campaigns director for the Maine People\u2019s Alliance and is actively involved in monthly outdoor mikvah excursions held on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18487,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1646,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1552\/revisions\/1646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}