Mikva’ot

It is a Torah mitzva that all matters of holiness in the service of the Temple, as well as touching and eating the meat of sacrifices, ḥalla, and the produce of teruma and ma’aser sheni, be carried out by people who are pure. As we have learned (above 1:2), impurity is connected to death; therefore the most severe impurity is the impurity of a corpse, which is called avi avot ha-tum’ah (the “father of fathers of impurity”). A less severe impurity is the impurity caused by discharges that could have brought life and were lost, such as the impurity of nidda and of semen, or by discharges that express damage to the system that brings life, such as the impurity of a zav and zava. The order of the purification process corresponds to the severity of the impurity: one who became impure from a corpse must wait seven days; on the third and seventh days the water containing the ashes of the red heifer must be sprinkled on him, and on the seventh day he immerses, and at its end he becomes pure. A zav and zava must wait seven clean days and immerse, without the need for sprinkling of the water of the red heifer’s ashes. A man or woman who became impure from semen, as well as those who touch the carcass of a domestic or wild animal or a sheretz (creeping creature), are impure until the end of the day and become pure through immersion. The laws of purity are very numerous, and an entire order out of the six orders of the Mishna is devoted to them, but one rule applies to all who are impure: their purification is not complete without immersion in water.

As for the reason for the mitzva to become pure through water, one may say that water preceded the appearance of life, as it is stated (Bereishit 1:1-2): “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.” On the first day God created light, in order to give direction to the world through it, and the world was still full of and surrounded by water. On the second day (ibid. 6-7): “And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide between water and water. And God made the firmament and divided between the waters that were below the firmament and the waters that were above the firmament; and it was so.” And still the whole earth was flooded with water. On the third day: “And God said: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering (mikveh) of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good” (ibid. 9-10). Thus water is the foundation from which life in the world began, and one who is impure, having distanced himself from the root of life, returns and immerses entirely in water, and thereby returns to the root of his vitality, and is as though created anew and becomes pure (more on this above 1:11-12).

After the Temple was destroyed and Israel was exiled from its land, purity ceased from Israel; but one important and sanctified purity still remained for us, namely purification from the impurity of nidda, because the impurity of nidda relates not only to entering the Temple and eating sacred foods, but also to intimacy between husband and wife. Indeed, in the sanctified marital bond between husband and wife, the essence of purity and holiness in Israel has remained, as R. Akiva said of a husband and wife who merit to live in faithfulness, that the Shekhina dwells between them (Sota 17a), for the root of the love, life, and unity between husband and wife is in the Holy of Holies (above 1:9-10; Peninei Halakha: Simḥat Ha-bayit U-virkhato 1:5-7).

Because of the great stature of the holiness of Israel, and because the mikveh regularly serves a large public of women, the custom of Israel is to be meticulous le-khatḥila in the laws of the mikveh, and when possible, to be stringent and build it in such a way that it will be valid even according to individual opinions that were not accepted as halakha (Tashbetz 1:17; Da’at Kohen 116). However, when stringency would make it difficult to establish a mikveh, one should not be stringent. All the more so, one should not adopt new stringencies, which would cast aspersions on the women who immersed in the past (Maharik 56; Da’at Kohen 117; 125).

Because of the great importance of the mikveh, every community is obligated to build a mikveh (Rema, ḤM 163:3). Likewise, it is a mitzva to build a mikveh that is beautiful, clean, and as pleasant as possible (Ḥiddushei R. Akiva Eiger 39).