ABSTRACT
Water has always played a pivotal role in Jewish life and the Torah (Old Testament) is replete with accounts testifying to this fact. The story of Moses striking a rock from which water pours forth and the description of the “well of Miriam,” a rock that traveled with the Israelites through the desert providing fresh water, both signify the importance of water in this tradition—particularly springs and wells. In the modern era, water has also come to play an important role in the form of the mikvah, the pool of water at the center of Jewish ritual purification. Much has been written on women’s experiences of post-menstruation mikvah immersion—usually in mikvahs located in synagogues. Drawing on textual and ethnographic data, this chapter considers a naturally occurring outdoor mikvah on the outskirts of Jerusalem used primarily by men for their own purification purposes.
