A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
(Hebrew. ‘A collection’). A ritual bath. The mikveh is used for ritual cleansing after *menstruation (see *NIDDAH) or contact with the dead.
*Proselytes to *Judaism are immersed in it as part of the conversion ceremony and vessels are dipped in it. A mikveh must contain enough water to fill a square cubit up to the height of three cubits and the water must come directly from a spring or be rainwater—it cannot have been previously drawn into a receptacle. Provided the minimum amount of water is present that has not been drawn, extra drawn water may be added to it. The historian *Josephus in the 1st century CE describes the obligation of visiting a mikveh before attending Temple worship and there are many archaeological remains of mikvaot. Regulations concerning the mikveh are to be found in the tractate Mikva’ot of the *Talmud. (See also *ABLUTION, *NIDDAH, *PROSELYTE, *PURITY).
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