The Mikveh Never Closed: What the Pandemic Teaches Us About Mikveh

One Jewish space has remained open throughout the global pandemic: the women’s mikveh.

March 11, 2021

March 11, 2021

Dr. Elana Stein Hain is the Rosh Beit Midrash and a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she serves as lead faculty and consults on the content of lay and professional programs. A widely well-regarded thinker and teacher, Elana is passionate about bringing rabbinic thought into conversation with contemporary life. To this end, she hosts TEXTing, a bi-weekly podcast that considers issues relevant to Jewish life through the lens

Mijal Bitton

Created Equal, Covid-19, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Modernity

“One year ago today, on March 11^th 2020, shuls across the New York area started closing. COVID brought our society to its knees and contracted our world in the loss of safe and sacred public spaces. It took months for our synagogues and day-schools to gradually experiment with re-opening. But one Jewish space remained open throughout this global pandemic: the women’s mikveh. The mikveh was the exception, deemed too essential to close even when our entire city of New York was on lockdown.

Living through a pandemic makes everything more challenging, whether in the form of daily routines, religious gatherings, family relationships, school attendance, or playdates. The same is true in the realm of mikveh observance.”

Read the full essay on Lehrhaus

The Mikveh Never Closed: What the Pandemic Teaches Us About Mikveh

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