We all wear many hats in our daily lives. Jewish women, daughters of Hashem, daughters and granddaughters, and some of us, nieces, sisters and sisters in law, aunts and cousins, and some of us are additionally blessed to be wives, mothers, mothers in law and grandmothers. We work in and out of our homes to ensure a holiness and purity befitting us as Jewish women. Among those who are wives, we have an added sacred responsibility and privilege to go to the Mikvah and practice the laws of family purity in order to ensure the strength of marriages and families, and the continuity of the Jewish people with sanctity and holiness.
Many years ago, twenty to be exact, my husband and I were hired as Rabbi and Rebbetzin of the Young Israel of Southfield, here in Michigan.
During the interview process we asked about the community, the local Jewish infrastructure, major institutions and organizations. As a young couple barely married two years with an infant, we asked the normal question, “Do you have a Mikvah?” The answer we received was, “Of course we do! And it was recently constructed and state of the art.” We responded, “Great, and how far is it from the heart of the community we would be living in?”
Well, that my friends, was an entirely different response.
You see, the Mikvah was about 4 miles from the neighborhood. Which meant that although the Mikvah was great during the week, it, however, became very complicated on Friday night and Yom Tov, especially three day Yomim Tovim! I asked the normal next question of, “So what do people do on Friday night and Yom Tov when they need to go to the Mikvah?” The blunt answer I received was, “Well they obviously abstain!”
Now, as a young married couple who was interested in going to the Mikvah on time and wanting to grow our family, this was not an answer we were comfortable with.
We decided to take the job anyway, and my husband made building a Mikvah his first priority as the new Rabbi. His first Rosh HaShanah Drasha was announcing that the community hired us to build the community, and in order to effectively do that, we needed a Mikvah within walking distance of our community.
Well, easier said than done. It took several years of hard work by a dedicated group of members to locate an old existent, although dilapidated Mikvah, in the local day school building, receive permission from the Federation, who owned the building, to renovate and only use the Mikvah for Friday night and Yomim Tovim. There was a lot of responding to naysayers and rallying those enthused by the idea. There was the inevitable fundraising required even just to renovate this small Mikvah. With lots of Siyaata Dishmaya and tremendous effort, the Mikvah was up and running.
My husband would clean it out each time it would need to be used and I was the switchboard operator and often the Mikvah attendant along with a group of special women who would leave their families Friday night and Yom Tov each time to ensure that another woman was able to go to the Mikvah on time. I also did the laundry after each use. You could say we were a small mom and pop operation.
This went on for around 10 years, however, the heater was constantly broken, there was a leak in the Mikvah pit, which would create problems each time someone needed to use it, and well, let’s just say it wasn’t the nicest looking room…. It was functional most of the time, at best.
But then, the day came when the school decided to demolish their building for a new state of the art facility, which included destroying the Mikvah.
We needed a new option. Once again, 15 years after we started, we were back to the drawing board.
Without a Mikvah, women who are trying to build a family are at a severe disadvantage with no option available for Friday night and Yomim Tovim. In addition, a healthy marriage is compromised without a functioning Mikvah.
A dedicated group of women got together and formed our Lahser Rd Mikvah Board. They have worked tirelessly for the last five years fundraising, locating a property, working with engineers, architects and the local city zoning board to gain approval and plans for our community Mikvah.
And now, we are in the final hours, the home stretch of a 20 year marathon to build a beautiful inside and out Mikvah for our community.
But now we need your help. We have received a generous matching grant over the next few days to raise the last bit we need to start construction.
So now, we call upon you, our friends and family to help our community. We are giving it our all and then some. Please, help us finish this sacred project. Partner with our community in building this Mikvah and ensuring the continuity of our people with holiness and purity.
Please click on the link below to donate and view a video explaining our Mikvah project.
https://campaigns.causematch.com/lrm/40969/
Thank you for your support!