Devori Baumgarten and Sarah Herson, who both served on the mikva inauguration committee, prepare to cut the ribbon dedicating the new ritual bath.
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
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July 23, 2009
The Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey dedicated a mikva at its new education center in Rockaway. It is the first Jewish ritual bath in northwest New Jersey and the latest of 36 such facilities in the state.
About 100 people attended the July 13 ceremony dedicating the Mei Menachem Community Mikvah.
“Today is the day that marks your coming of age in the Jewish community,” guest speaker Rivka Slonim, codirector of the Chabad House at Binghamton University and editor of Total Immersion: A Mikvah Anthology, told guests.
Designed by Tal Mandler, it features iridescent aqua blue and cream-colored tiles and a floral theme. Ritual baths are a requirement for Jewish women observing the laws of “family purity,” who must immerse themselves in the mikva waters following their menstrual cycles. Men also may use the baths for various purification rituals, as do men and women undergoing a conversion to Judaism.
Rabbi Asher Herson, director of the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey, told NJJN that putting the mikva in the center was “a no-brainer.”
The Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey dedicated its new mikva in Rockaway on July 13.
Rivka Slonim, codirector of the Chabad House at Binghamton University and editor of Total Immersion: A Mikvah Anthology, served as keynote speaker.
He doesn’t expect Chabad supporters who weren’t raised with the mitzva to begin using it right away.
“People don’t do every mitzva immediately, but our job is to make sure it’s there, and to know we did our part. Eventually, people do connect,” he said. “The whole calling of this generation is to make the spiritual principles of Judaism accessible. Whether it’s tefillin, or kashrut, or mikva, they have to be accessible emotionally, geographically, and educationally.”
Slonim called the dedication a “yom tov,” or holy day, for the community, and said the mikva “is absolutely axiomatic to what it means to be a Jew.”
There has been a resurgence in the use of the mikva, she said, calling the ritual “a stupendous opportunity to connect upward.”
She also refuted the feminist critique that the laws of ritual purity are “truly the fruit of misogynistic minds.” The ritual is linked not to hygiene, but to spirituality, she said. “If I could describe the mikva in just one word, it would be ‘transformation’; if I had a second word, it would be ‘elevation.’”
People came to the event with varying backgrounds and relationships to Chabad. Lisa Gutkin of Denville, a member of Mount Freedom Jewish Center, said she was there to offer support to the effort.
“I think it’s important we all come out for this kind of event. We need to keep populating different areas and make sure we’re around,” she said. “I’m interested in getting in touch with this side of my spirituality.”
Alice Namecak, of Rockaway, was not raised Jewish but grew interested in that part of her identity as an adult, and attended the ceremony out of a general interest in all things Jewish. Asked whether she might use the mikva, she said, “I might.”
Riva Gomer of Rockaway, a longtime supporter of Chabad, called mikva “a very beautiful concept that brings the best of the ancient and the modern together.”
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