Mikvah - Part Two: "Family Purity - Holiness of the Body"

Taharat HaMishpacha 

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Tonight I continue with the second of my four sermons on the mikvah, entitled: Mikvah, Taharat HaMishpacha -subtitled, Family Purity - Holiness of the Body.

A brief recap: A mikvah is a special pool of natural water, usually rainwater, in which a person immerses for certain ritual purposes:

For the ritual of conversion;

For the sake of spiritual purity before a wedding by both bride and groom, used separately, of course;

For the sake of spiritual purity before Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur;

For the sake of spiritual healing and wholeness.

I will deal with these aspects in the next two weeks. Our mikvah is currently under construction on the main level of the Roseneath Building and is contemplated to be completed by the end of March. Despite having different families present each week, it is impossible to repeat the contents of the previous sermons. To follow the development of this subject I encourage you to join the synagogue's listserve and receive it each week by email. Ultimately, all these sermons will be archived and attached to our web page. Our electronic addresses are printed on this evening's brochure.

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In my previous sermon I taught that a person, man and woman, immerses in the waters of the mikvah, called mayyim chayyim, living waters, in order to achieve a higher state of holiness. Total immersion of one's body in the mikvah isdone to elevate our spiritual selves.

One does not get clean in a mikvah.

One becomes holy in a mikvah.

Our Judaism teaches us that our physical and spiritual selves are tightly connected. What we think about ourselves, about our bodies, influences how we behave, how we treat our bodies. This impacts on how we relate to others, bethey other men or women generally, or specifically our spouses and our children.

Our core ideas about ourselves are derived from two special teachings:

1. We are created in the Divine Image.

2. Our bodies are holy.

To be created in God's image means that we have the ability to know right from wrong, to make moral choices. It alsomeans that we share with God the ability to create and nurture life. While animals also procreate, they are not moral creatures. Only we have both conditions. Therefore sexual relations between a husband and wife is understood in Judaism to be a reflection of the Divine actof creation of the world. While Judaism does teach us to appreciate physical joy, our faith elevates sex from just the physical realm to a high spiritual realm. Judaism endows sex in the marital bond with kedushah - holiness. In the union of a man and a woman, we are reflections of God's creation of the universe. That is why the Rabbis say that there are three partners in the creation of a child, mother, father, and God. God has blessed us with the ability to initiate human life, which is the supreme human behavior.

Life is sacred. Our physical existence is kadosh.

Let me now spell out direct applications of these ideas. There are acts, which desecrate, remove, or diminish the holinessof our bodies.

1. We do not tattoo our bodies by injecting colored dyes.

2. Judaism clearly is opposed to smoking, intoxication, and illegal drug use.

3. We do not starve ourselves nearly to death to imitate the unhealthy skinniest models of TV or magazines.

4. Judaism, in our view, only permits abortion when the mother's life is at risk, a concept that may be understood very broadly, or when pregnancy results from rape, God forbid.

5. It also means that we don't treat our bodies or someone else's body as animals.

Judaism actively teaches against rape and any other molestation of another's body as it strenuously teaches us that we are holy, that our bodies - everyone's body - is kadosh. This extends to the following cardinal belief:

6. Men and women, boys and girls are not sex objects.

We don't treat our bodies or their sexual capabilities cavalierly. The idea of holiness leads to respect, reverence, honor, and regard for our own and each other's body. Not that it is wrong to want to be pretty or handsome and thus be appealing to the opposite sex. When you are the subject and another is the object, it is a matter of control,subservience, and domination. Judaism teaches that in sex, husband and wife are partners, just as we are partners with God. We act towards each other in marriage and outside of marriage with respect, decency, and purity. We respect the Divine Image that is enshrined in our bodies through behavior, which is holy, which is pure.

7. This leads directly to the sanctity of our spiritual existence, the relationships between us.

Whether it is parent to child or child to parent, regardless of our ages, whether it is brothers and sisters to each other, in-laws and step relationships, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, each of these kinships and connections are holy. The invisible bonds that are woven between us are kadosh. This imbues life with utmost meaning and glory.

Perhaps the new TV show "Temptation Island" is so crude because it mocks the sanctity of human relationships and the human body. It reduces our kedusha, our holiness by reducing love, friendship, and sex to its basest level. It despoils and profanes the Divine Image planted in each man and woman.

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All of these ideas are learned from the opening chapters of Genesis and lead directly to the usage of mikvah. In Bereshit we read that the very first matter in existence was water: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And a wind from God moved over the surface of the waters." These are the waters of creation, the creative source from which all else is derived. When you see the waters of the mikvah you are seeing the reflection of the waters of the creation of the world. This explains the requirement that the waters of the mikvah be natural waters and not tap, or drawn water. The water of the mikvah is called mayyim chayyim -living waters - waters of life - "creation waters." It is not a pool. Its waters reflect God's loving creation of the world. Particularly women mirror this belief in their physical bodies.

Every month women are blessed to be potential sources of creation. When pregnant women carry in their very bodies their child in the bag of waters. They contain in their innermost place, the waters of creation. The traditional observance is that when not pregnant, each month the woman immerses in the mikvah as a renewal and in recognition of her creative ability that no one else has. Immersion in the mikvah resanctifies her sexuality and elevates her body's kedusha. Through this immersion on a monthly cycle all the components of life to which I have referred in these remarks are elevated and consecrated. Through the usage of mikvah each woman reclaims and rededicates the Divine Image that resides within her body. And through her holiness, she shares this kedusha with her husband, and together, their marriage bond is strengthened, their family life is sanctified. Because this observance requires a waiting period, husband and wife learn discipline and devotion, restraint and dedication. Each month their love is renewed and refreshed. They recommit to their partnership and their kedusha, their holiness increases, their lives are more blessed.

This comprehensive vision of the body, of sex, of marriage is unique to Judaism. While other cultures have rituals with water, none teach these lessons of personal holiness. The ritual usage of mikvah for the mitzvah of taharat hamishpacha certainly runs counter to all the visual stimulation of the media and current culture. The answer to a world threatened with promiscuity, divorce, drugs, low personal esteem, search for meaning, stability and purpose, is a system of values which raises our humanity, self-respect, and holiness. Mikvah is part of our faith that imbues our lives with meaning and purpose. It sanctifies our essence and our relationships. When a person immerses in the water and feels it surrounding them, it is as if God has embraced them, the Shechinah descends to enfold them in Divine love.

We don't become clean in the mikvah. We become holy.

In becoming holy we become most truly human.

In being most truly human, we most surely reflect the Divine Image.