page_title: Mikveh
hierarchical_section_title: Mikveh
context_page_description: Mikveh or mikvah is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity.
  After the destruction of the Temple, the mikveh's main uses remained as follows:
  by Jewish women to achieve ritual purity after menstruation and childbirth before they and their husbands may resume marital relations;
  by Jewish men to achieve ritual purity after ejaculation;
  as part of the traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism;
  to immerse newly acquired metal and glass utensils used in serving and eating food;
  to immerse a corpse as part of the preparation for burial.
  Most forms of ritual impurity can be purified through immersion in any natural collection of water. However, some impurities, such as a zav, require "living water", such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing, as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify. The mikveh is designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that remains in contact with a natural source of water.
context_section_description: Mikveh or mikvah (Hebrew: מִקְוֶה / מקווה, Modern: mikve, Tiberian: miqweh, pl. mikva'ot, mikvoth, mikvot, or (Yiddish) mikves, lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity.
  After the destruction of the Temple, the mikveh's main uses remained as follows:
  by Jewish women to achieve ritual purity after menstruation and childbirth before they and their husbands may resume marital relations;
  by Jewish men to achieve ritual purity after ejaculation;
  as part of the traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism;
  to immerse newly acquired metal and glass utensils used in serving and eating food;
  to immerse a corpse as part of the preparation for burial (taharah).
  Most forms of ritual impurity can be purified through immersion in any natural collection of water. However, some impurities, such as a zav, require "living water", such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing, as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify. The mikveh is designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that remains in contact with a natural source of water.
  In Orthodox Judaism, these regulations are steadfastly adhered to, and, consequently, the mikveh is central to an Orthodox Jewish community; they formally hold in Conservative Judaism as well. The existence of a mikveh is considered so important that a Jewish community is required to construct a mikveh even before building a synagogue, and must go to the extreme of selling Torah scrolls or even a synagogue if necessary, to provide funding for its construction.
caption: Pool of a medieval mikveh in Speyer, dating back to 1128
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