Up to the 1800's, the mikveh was an integral part of every Jewish community in the world, no matter where it might be. Just as there was a synagogue wherever there was a Jewish community, so, too, was there a mikveh. Just as everyone knew that Jews light candles on Friday night, they knew that Jews build, maintain and make use of the ritual bathhouse, which they called the mikveh. No community would have entertained the thought of not having one, for it is considered a more urgent need for the community than even a synagogue or a Torah scroll. So central is the mikveh to a functioning Jewish community that the halachah instructs us: “The construction of a mikveh takes precedence over the construction of a synagogue or the purchase of a Torah scroll, or any other commandments of the Torah (Shulchan Aruch, Section Choshen Mishpat).

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the Jewish People do not even know what a mikveh is. They have never seen one and are certainly not aware of the role it plays in Jewish life. Our generation has gone even further in its alienation from its heritage. Under the influence of Western society, even the institution of marriage has lost its status as a central, universal value among the People of Israel. Even those who do still opt for matrimony and establishing a home are far more likely to find themselves divorced sooner or later. Jewish marriages used to be exceptionally stable. In our times, when compared to the rampant divorce rate of the general public, Orthodox Jews still have a significantly lower rate of marriages which terminate in divorce.

Ever since our nation came into being, the Jewish family was the impregnable basic building block of our People. Its strength and stability aroused no little jealousy among the nations who hosted our people during our long years of exile. Jewish families were always aware of the mikveh and its role in family life. What was more, the women of Israel were fervently devoted to adhering to this commandment, so much so that they would go to extreme lengths to fulfill it. An outstanding example of the nation's devotion to the commandment of mikveh is to be found, and viewed yet today, in the ruins of the desert fortress at Matzada, on the shores of the Dead Sea. When Jerusalem fell to the Romans in the first century, C.E., the Sanctuary and the city were razed. A relatively small number of survivors managed to flee the carnage and took refuge in the mountaintop fortress of Matzada, in the sun-baked Judean desert. There, on the table-topped mountain of rock, the fugitives established a small colony of refugees. Although every drop of water was precious, they hewed a mikveh out of the rock, for without a mikveh, there could be no Jewish community.

In the generations that followed, the women of Israel repeatedly displayed their extreme devotion of fulfilling the commandment of mikveh. There were times when women were forced to travel for a few days in order to reach a mikveh, at the cost of half a month's salary. (And in the case where there was no mikveh (eg. Siberia) couples abstained from having relationships for a prolonged duration of time until they were free to resume religious life.)

The Sanctuary on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem also required immersion in a mikveh prior to entering into its precinct. The Torah mentions the commandment to immerse in a mikveh again and again in connection with the service in the Holy Temple. Not only were the priests required to purify themselves in the mikveh's waters, but every Jew who sought entrance to its courtyards and chambers, as well.

In recent years, archeologists have unearthed many mikvehs – some of enormous proportions – in the environs of the Temple Mount. Three times a year, on each of the major festivals, every male was required to bring his offerings to the Temple. These massive pilgrimages required equally massive mikvehs; some of which have come to light recently in archeological findings. The numerous ancient mikvehs which can be viewed in the Old City of Jerusalem today stand as silent testimony to the life of spiritual purity which reigned in the Holy City thousands of years ago.

The Intentions of the Heart

The Laws of Family Purity are not something which can be explained scientifically; it is the heart which much develop an awareness of them and their beneficial effects.

The Rambam, Rabbi Moses Maimonides, writes: “Immersion (in a mikveh to cleanse oneself) from spiritual contamination is one of the precepts which cannot be grasped by the human intellect, and it is a matter which depends on the heart...” (Rambam, Laws of Mikvehs, Chapter 11, Regulation 12)

In other words, tumah and taharah are intangible states of being which are not discerned by our five senses. However, the more the person is aware of their spiritual significance, and the better he understands it, the more he will experience it.

We hope that this explanation of the essence of these laws and their significance will prompt the reader to a deepened awareness and appreciation of the Giver of Life in general and of the institution of mikveh, in particular.

It is important to keep in mind that the basic terms used in the discussion which follows are explained only on the most fundamental level. The concept of mikveh is explored and explained far more extensively in many major classic Jewish sources.