Baptism is associated with Christianity and is generally viewed as no friend of the Jewish people. Just the very word baptism causes shivers to run up the spines of many Jewish people. On the phone Mike told me he had been thinking about what was going to take place. He thought about the effect baptism would have on his family, some of whom had said they were deeply hurt and would never attend such an event. I don't know if I can bear that thought.
Immersion is nothing new to the Jewish people.
Its purpose has always been for cleansing, although not physical cleansing. Thus, rabbinical thought holds that there must be a special intent for being immersed, or there is no value in the immersion. In 70 A.D., such immersions ceased due to the Roman destruction of the Temple. Other kinds of immersions continued, however. Today, immersions take place for a variety of reasons.