Gaining Purity from the Mikveh in Judaism

 

In this photo, two women are depicted standing in front of a mikveh, a bath used in Judaism where one is supposed to emerge and wash themselves in order to achieve ritual purity. This room is covered in a range of different shades of stone tiles ranging from white stone to dark beige stone. There is a long and narrow window in the corner that brings in the natural light and a railing for the stairs that lead down into the water. The woman on the left is wearing modest, formal clothing and holding a white sheet in front of the other woman in order to cover her. The woman on the right is about to emerge in the water, fully naked. The actual mikveh is built into the ground and deep enough for someone to fully emerge their entire body. The water is collected naturally from either rain or a spring and needs to be still when used. The person immersing needs to be fully clean before stepping into the water so that anything touching the water is purely coming from the person's body (no clothes, makeup, jewelry, nail polish, beauty products on the hair or skin, etc.). The other woman is there to ensure that every inch of the immersers body is covered by the mikveh's water.

In "Purity and Danger," Mary Douglas argues that the idea of purity and pollution can come to mean different things for different cultures and their norms. These ideas can instill a sense of order and social norms into those different cultures that are experienced from rituals and established symbols. Purity and impurity play a huge part into her argument, explaining that every culture has a way of establishing whether certain things are considered pure and impure (different cultures can differ on these opinions) and that is based on the way that society functions. Moreover, Douglas explains that "Female purity is carefully guarded" and taken more seriously because they are seen as "the entry by which the pure content may be adulterated" (Douglas 1966: 155, 156). This refers to the semen excreted from intercourse and from having children, but in the case of the photo above, it can be interpreted to be from menstruation as well.

The mikveh is an extremely important part of Jewish culture, where women immerse themselves in the water to become pure after menstruation or childbirth is complete, where individuals clean new eating, cooking, and serving utensils, and where individuals go to immerse as part of their conversion process. Regarding the photo above, this woman is immersing to claim purity after menstruation (niddah). During the time of menstruation, women do not have sex with their husbands so they perform this purity ritual to resume those relations. In connection with Douglas's argument on purity and impurity rituals, the ritual of a woman cleaning herself in the mikveh signifies a certain way that Judaism functions. This is just one of many rituals and customs that everyone in this particular Jewish society partakes in that has become a social norm to all. Furthermore, by purifying a woman after menstruation, Jewish culture may be trying to suggest that periods are inherently impure and taboo, which can be a way to teach women to keep quiet about a natural bodily occurrence. This can reveal some religious anxieties that emerge from not wanting to talk about menstruation and reinforces social norms that can be harmful to menstruating women and especially menstruating young girls.

Sources:

Tom, Kates. 2009. "Mayyim Hayyim Mikveh." From mayyimhayyim.org. Retrieved April 4, 2024 (https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/supporting-survivors-of-abuse-at-the-mikveh/).

Douglas, Mary. 1966. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollution and Taboo. London and New York: Routledge.