Jewish Practices & Rituals: Mikveh. Mikveh (Hebrew, .
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Mikveh immersion is also obligatory for converts, as part of the ceremony of conversion. In addition immersion in the mikveh is still practiced by various groups as an aid to spirituality, particularly on the eve of the Shabbat and festivals, especially Yom Kippur, and the custom still obtains, in accordance with Numbers 3. Jews. At the beginning of the 2. Jewish practice. In addition to conversion to Judaism, rituals have developed incorporating mikveh immersion as part of bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah; prior to marriage for men as well as women; in cases of miscarriage, infertility, and illness; and following divorce, sexual assault, or other life- altering events. An indication of the probable long- term impact of this trend is the increased construction of mikva'ot by non- Orthodox Jewish communities in North America. It is emphasized that the purpose of immersion is not physical, but spiritual, cleanliness.
Maimonides concludes his codification of the laws of the mikveh with the following statement: It is plain that the laws about immersion as a means of freeing oneself from uncleanness are decrees laid down by Scripture and not matters about which human understanding is capable of forming a judgment; for behold, they are included among the divine statutes. Now 'uncleanness' is not mud or filth which water can remove, but is a matter of scriptural decree and dependent on the intention of the heart. Therefore the Sages have said, 'If a man immerses himself, but without special intention, it is as though he has not immersed himself at all.'Nevertheless we may find some indication .
Behold, Scriptures say, 'And I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you . Yad, ibid. 1: 8), is that the need for intention applies only for the purpose of eating holy things, such as ma'aser and terumah. For a menstruant, and before eating ordinary food, though intention is desirable in the first instance, its lack does not invalidate the immersion.
The importance of intention in the laws of ritual impurity is further illustrated by the fact that the rabbis permitted fig cakes which had been hidden in water – an action that would normally make the food susceptible to uncleanness – because they had been put there in order to hide them and not in order to wet them (Makhsh. This stress on intention passed from Judaism into Islam.
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The rabbis, however, enacted that only water which has not been drawn, i. A mikveh containing less than this amount (which they estimated to be a volume of 4. However, if the mikveh contains more than this amount it can never become invalid no matter how much drawn water is added. These laws are the basis for the various ways of constructing the mikveh (see below). To them a whole talmudic tractate, Mikva'ot , is devoted, and Maimonides assigns them a whole treatise of the same name. The laws can be conveniently divided into two parts, the construction of the mikveh itself, and the water which renders it valid or invalid. Interracial Dating Among Teens more.
The mikveh is valid, however built, providing that it has not been prefabricated and brought and installed on the site, since in that case it constitutes a . It may be hewn out of the rock or built in or put on the ground, and any material is suitable. It must be watertight, since leakage invalidates it. It must contain a minimum of 4. With regard to rainwater, which is ideal for a mikveh, and melted snow and ice (even if manufactured from .
This is avoided by attaching the pipes and other accessories to the ground, by virtue of which they cease to have the status of . The emptying through a hole in the bottom is forbidden since the plug may be regarded as a . Once it possesses the minimum quantity of 4.
It is thus possible to exploit limitless quantities of valid water. Various Forms of Mikveh. The above regulations determine the various kinds of mikveh which are in use. In rare cases where there is a plentiful supply of valid water, spring or rain- (or sea- ) water which can constantly replenish the mikveh, the only desiderata which have to be complied with are to ensure that the water does not become invalidated by the construction of the mikveh, rendering it a . The basic mikveh consists of the minimum valid amount of 4. To this rainwater, ordinary water may subsequently be added through a trough which is absorbent, dug in the ground, or one made of lean concrete at least three handbreadths (c.
Through this device the added water is regarded as coming from the ground and not through a . Since the added water is regarded as . In a second system the added drawn water is not previously mixed with the rainwater, as in the previous case, but flows directly onto the basic rainwater mikveh through an aperture in the wall of the mikveh, the diameter of which must be . Mik. This method is called o. Both the above methods, though they answer the halakhic needs, have their disadvantages in operation and in maintenance, particularly through the exhaustion of the rain- water and the stagnation of the standing water. The other systems are aimed at overcoming these drawbacks. When changing the water in the mikveh, it is filled each time with at least 2.
The water in the mikveh is brought into contact with the . Though indeed this method overcomes the many shortcomings and halakhic problems, it nevertheless requires an extensive area for the cistern, and large areas of roof and pipes for filling with considerable amounts of rainwater in the winter. Free On Line Adult Dating Services more. Each store has an aperture connecting its water with that of the mikveh. Karelitz, the . Latterly mikva'ot have been built by the method of two .
An early enactment, attributed to Ezra, that a woman must wash her hair before immersing herself (BK 8. United States they are provided with hairdressing salons and even beauty parlors. The regulations for constructing the mikveh are complicated and its construction requires a considerable knowledge of technology combined with strict adherence to the halakhah, and it should be built only after consultation with, and under the supervision of, accepted rabbinic authorities.
Nevertheless in order to increase the use of this essential requirement of traditional Judaism, a book has been published which consists almost entirely of instructions for making a valid . Miller in bibl.). History and Archaeology. During the Second Temple period (roughly from 1. B. C. E. Large numbers of stepped- and- plastered mikva'ot have been found in excavations in Jerusalem, in outlying villages, as well as at various rural locations. Most of the installations in Jerusalem were in basements of private dwellings and therefore must have served the specific domestic needs of the city inhabitants.
Numerous examples are known from the area of the . It would appear that the Bethesda and Siloam Pools – to the north and south of the Temple Mount – were designed at the time of Herod the Great to accommodate almost all of the ritual purification needs of the large numbers of Jewish pilgrims who flocked to Jerusalem for the festivals. In addition to this, those precluded from admission to the Temple, owing to disabilities and bodily defects, would have sought miraculous healing at these pools and this is the background for the healing accounts in the Gospel of John (5: 1–1. Although water purification is referred to in the Old Testament, in regard to rituals and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, with washing, sprinkling, and dipping in water, we do not hear of specific places or installations that people would constantly frequent for the purpose of ritually cleansing their flesh. The term mikveh was used in a very general sense in the Old Testament to refer to a body of water of indeterminate extent (cf.
Lev. 1. 1: 3. 6) or waters designated for a large reservoir situated in Jerusalem (Isa. None of these places are mentioned as having been used for ritual purification in any way. Hence, the concept of the mikveh as a hewn cave or constructed purification pool attached to one's dwelling or place of work is undoubtedly a later one. A distinction must be made therefore between the purification practices as they are represented in biblical sources, with Jewish water immersion rituals of the Second Temple period, as well as with later customs of mikva'ot prevailing from medieval times and to the present day (see below).
The basis for our information about what was or was not permitted in regard to mikva'ot appears in rabbinic sources: the tractate Mikva'ot in the Mishnah and Tosefta. One must take into consideration, however, that this information might very well be idealized, at least in part, and that the reality of purification practices in Second Temple times may have been much more flexible than one would suppose from these sources.
Josephus Flavius is silent in his writings about the purification installations of his time, and the few references in Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts are definitely not to be relied upon to generalize about the common Jewish purification practices current in Second Temple period Palestine. The Mishnah (Mik.
Danby) indicates that there were at least six grades of mikva'ot, listed from the worst to the best: (1) ponds; (2) ponds during the rainy season; (3) immersion pools containing more than 4. Clearly the ubiquitous stepped- and- plastered installation known to scholars from archaeological excavations since the 1. No. 3, above) was not the best or the worst of the six grades of mikva'ot as set forth in the Mishnah. It is referred to as follows: . The validity of mikva'ot was apparently one of the subjects occasionally debated in the .
Stringent religious regulations (halakhot) are referred to in regard to certain constructional details and how the installations were to be used. A mikveh had to be supplied with .