The Mikvah Queen

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It is here, among graceful limestone palaces, castles, churches and houses, that we find many of the city's rare treasures. A few have been rediscovered following centuries passed - literally - in the dark. One is the mikveh in the Giudecca, the city's Jewish quarter until Indeed, this is the oldest mikveh or mikvah or miqwa known to survive in Europe.

By definition, a mikveh is a ritual bath, consisting of at least one pool but perhaps several. The mikveh is an important part of Jewish tradition, and it was the inspiration - or at least the precedent - for analogous practices in Christianity Baptism and then Islam Ghusl. Whereas Baptism is a sacrament that is performed only once originally by full immersion as it is still practiced in the Eastern Orthodox Churches , Ghusl customs are more similar to Judaic practice.

Obviously, one form or another of ritual bathing is a shared legacy of all three Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, ritual bathing, or ablution , in the form of tevilah full-body immersion in fresh water, may date from Mosaic times, and has certainly been practiced since the period during which the Book of Leviticus was authored, before BC BCE. Both the Mishnah and the Talmud refer to the practice, and many Jewish rituals are rooted in this era. The Jewish congregation of Syracuse was probably the first to be established in Sicily, and one of the first few in what is now Italy.

Judaism was present here long before the arrival of Christianity on Sicilian shores. The first Jews of Sicily were present during Roman times archaeological evidence indicates that a community of the Samaritan sect also flourished in Syracuse. Of particular note, a few Jews arrived as slaves following the Siege of Jerusalem a decade later in AD 70 during the First Jewish-Roman War The Great Revolt , commemorated in Rome's Arch of Titus where one of the earliest depictions of a menorah appears as a spoil of war. However, the greatest influx of Jews took place in the decades immediately after , in the wake of the Romans' complete expulsion of the Jews from the holy city of Jerusalem after Bar Kokhba's Revolt which began in during the rule of the emperor Hadrian.

Thus whatever semblance of Jewish independence had ever existed under the Romans was lost. This led to the Diaspora.

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Though Syracuse had been a Roman city since BC, its culture and principal language were Greek throughout the Roman period. With the arrival of the Jewish refugees, Aramaic was added to the linguistic mix. Most of the city's Jews resided in their own quarter and for many centuries their lives were governed by their own law. The mikveh was part of it. The mikveh of Siracusa dates from the Byzantine period following the fall of the "western" Roman empire to invading forces in Italy mostly Vandals and Visigoths in the fifth century. In , the Byzantine general Belisarius seized control of Sicily from the Goths.

It was probably around this time that the mikveh we see today was carved into a limestone hypogeum over twenty meters below ground level, but circumstances suggest an earlier date. In Ortygia's Jews obtained permission to rebuild the synagogue that had been destroyed by the Vandals.

AMAZING Challah Recipe and the Meaning Behind the Mitzvah

Had their mikveh also been destroyed by the invaders, or was it spared? The latter hypothesis leaves open the possibility that the hypogeum we see today already existed in when the Byzantines arrived. At all events, it was almost certainly in use when the Emperor Constans ruled the Byzantine Empire from Syracuse from until Another noteworthy hypogeum in the central Mediterranean designed for religious use, and in that sense comparable to the Syracusan Mikveh, is the much-larger al-Saflieni Hypogeum carved on Malta beginning around BC.

A mikveh is, of course, a sacred site, though not a place of worship. A spring supplies water to the mikveh's five immersion pools. It has been suggested that the same underground spring feeds the Fount of Arethusa. There is even a vent running from the hypogeum's ceiling to ground level. Medieval oil lamps were discovered during the excavations.

The mikveh was used most often by women, especially following menstruation or childbirth but also brides just before marriage.

Queens Synagogue Mikveh Grand Central Pkwy Forest Hills, NY Synagogues Jewish - MapQuest

Men sometimes bathed in it to achieve purity following intimate relations with their wives, and bridegrooms bathed just before marriage. Immersion was part of the rite of conversion to Judaism by Gentiles in this way Baptism is very similar to tevileh , and priests bathed during consecration and in preparation for performing certain rites.


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Bathing in a mikveh was required after contact with a corpse. The purpose of immersion in the mikveh was not physical cleansing - one must be clean before entering - but achieving spiritual purity or renewal. In medieval Judaism the mikveh was just as important as the synagogue. Customarily, a new Jewish community would invest in its mikveh before allocating funds for the synagogue or Torah scroll. It is possible that a synagogue once stood atop the mikveh, though it is equally likely that the first chief synagogue there eventually may have been two or more as the Jewish community grew was located nearby, probably on or near the site of Saint John the Baptist Church - which by tradition is said to be the place where Saint Paul preached.

The Jewish market is thought to have stood where Saint Philip's Church was erected, and here, under the crypt, are the remains of another mikveh. Full of medieval buildings, the Giudecca of Syracuse is a labyrinth of narrow medieval streets and walkways. The mikveh of Syracuse has a total of five immersion pools. There are three triangular pools in the main chamber, where there is also a round pool that serves as a reservoir. On each side of the main chamber is a small side chamber having a square pool; these were used by priests or other important individuals, almost exclusively male.

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There were probably days the mikveh was open to women, and others for men. Rabbinical authorities went over my blueprints and certified that I could use these plastic sheets to make the mikvah. There is no place where improvisation, cutting corners or human error can happen as it is manufactured in an assembly line. We bring premeasured and precut plastic sheets from the factory and we affix them to the floor which attaches to the foundations of the house.


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The reservoir fills with rainwater as in a regular Mikvah. A regular mikvah is made from a lot of concrete that really weighs a lot and its external dimensions are also really large as it needs really thick concrete walls. Our largest mikvah weighs kilo so you can build it even on the top floor of an apartment building or in the ground if you want.


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Even then, someone can come down and add another layer of plastic to reseal the mikvah. In a regular mikvah you need to dry it up and look at all the caulking and sealants to make sure there are no gaps that could lead to leaks. Some people need a mikvah with 1 reservoir some with 2 or even 3. Many Israeli rabbis and rabbis from out of Israel came to see the mikvah in Herzliya and were very pleased with it.

Mikvaot located in other areas are, as follows:

Ebenspanger says he has a whole list of rabbis who endorse his mikvah and this list can be found on his website. That is also why the rabbis wrote strongly against those who would copy the patented design saying that it is theft. The rabbi oversees the whole construction process and upon completion issues a numbered certificate which is also registered on our website to certify that this mikvah is original from our company and was built according to all the necessary strict halachic standards.