Jewish women have used a mikvah or ritual bath for generations, but when COVID meant Tasmania's faithful could not travel interstate for the purifying act —Launceston's Shluchim couple stepped up.
Key points:
- Until the pandemic shut borders, Jewish women in Tasmania had been flying interstate for mikvah, a ritual bath
- Lockdown meant that a local Hobart mikvah needed to be restored
- Kosher mikvahs must be filled in a special way
It took an ice factory, some rapid fundraising by Tasmania's resident Shluchim who look after the needs of resident and visiting Jews, and some very quick renovations for women to be able to use the mikvah in Tasmania.
Tasmania has a population of around 300 Jews and the mikvah at Battery Point in Hobart, built 33 years ago, has fallen into disrepair.
"The main purpose of a mikvah is to provide spiritual purity to oneself, to a relationship and to family," Shlucha Rochel Gordon told ABC Radio Hobart.
Ms Gordon and her husband Rabbi Yochanan are Tasmania's Shluchim, providing spiritual sustenance to the island's Jewish population.
"Regardless of all the challenges, we felt that we had a mission, and that was getting the mikvah up and running — ready for any woman that needs to use it," she said.
"At that point, with the clock ticking, pressure kicked in and the feeling of — we have to do this — began."
Preparing the mikvah
Ms Gordon explained that without access to a mikvah, the intimacy of a husband and wife can be disrupted as spouses in some families are not physical during the woman's menstruation, and for seven days afterwards until she immerses in a mikvah.
"We wanted [repair of the mikvah] to be done overnight, like everything in life, you want everything to be done in a rush, but things don't happen overnight," she said.
"There have [sic] to be no chance of any leaks or any issue with the water spilling out. So that had to be fixed first."
Rainwater, or ice
Rainwater is required to fill the mikvah, but transporting or collecting the amount of rainwater required to fill it was not possible.
"We were advised that ice or snow is another way of filling it up.
"We thought it would be nice and easy to call the ice company and get 300 blocks of ice ordered.
"But as with everything [last] March, it was one of the many businesses that decided to close down.
"We tried to twist their leg and after a few days and a little bit of pushing, calling them everyday and just explaining the seriousness of not having the ice they eventually conceded to allow it to open production for the ice we needed."
Ice factory reopens
It was a Friday afternoon when the ice factory told Ms Gordon that they would open on Monday to provide ice for the mikvah, but it would need to be paid in full that day.
"The truth is if you go into any Jewish household on Friday afternoon, it's usually busy enough without having anything extra to do, being the eve of the Shabbat.
"We had to come up with the money miraculously with very, very, very short notice."
Ms Gordon contacted a family member in Melbourne and they organised a call-around to help raise the funds.
The family member sent messages out to her friends and community and within one hour she had raised the full amount.
Watching ice melt
"My husband warned the ice factory that the street where the mikvah is located is very, very narrow.
"Anyway, we were right: The truck did not fit down the lane, so we hired a few individuals to help with the with the schlepping.
"Block by block — individually — had to be brought around the corner to down the down the alleyway and placed strategically into the mikvah.
"My first response was, why couldn't you just throw it in like a snow fight?'
"In order for the ice to be kosher to be used for the mikvah the melting must be done on its own and naturally inside the system.
"It took about a week and a half for it to for it to melt and flow down into the system.
Loading...Mikvah in the open
A mikvah is a pool of water, or a lake, or the ocean, where a Jewish woman, observing her faith, takes a monthly dip seven days after menstruation, restoring her to a state of purity.
"I think the whole concept of mikvah and family purity has always, throughout Jewish generations, been a little bit hush hush, a little bit private," Ms Gordon said.
"It's really a very private area of a Jewish couple's life and it's also something that many people don't know about.
"It is an integral part of Jewish family life in the Jewish faith and the main purpose of it is to provide spiritual purity to oneself, their relationship and their family."
Plans are to build a new, state of the art mikvah, "hopefully in Launceston and possibly to revamp the one in Hobart also," Ms Gordon said.