I almost couldn’t find it. 

A small indentation in the brick-lined wall and a tiny sign next to a frosted panel door were the only hints to its existence on this cool morning in Wilmette, Ill. As I pushed the doorbell, I squinted my eyes trying to peer inside, but couldn’t make it past the opaque glass. With only my ears for guidance, I listened to the subtle movements within, muffled by the monotonous din of a vacuum. The ring of the doorbell echoed from the inside and the vacuum shut off. Silence. I thought for a moment that maybe I was mistaken, maybe this wasn’t the place. 

Just then a lady with a straw hat wearing an ankle-length, red floral-print dress over a long-sleeved white T-shirt came to the door and, in a soothing whisper, welcomed me to the Mikvah of the Conservative Movement at Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah. Now, what exactly is mikvah? Well, that’s just what I was here to find out. 

Mikvah is in essence a pool; but it’s unlike any pool you ever went to for swimming lessons. In fact even calling it a “pool” does not really fit — it’s more like a ritual, purity immersion bath. 

“Mikvah is really a tough concept to try and explain,” says Carol Schnitzler, my “tour guide” at the mikvah.

In her soft-spoken voice, she tells me to wait outside and enjoy the sunshine for a bit longer while she finishes cleaning. Otherwise known as the “mikvah lady,” Schnitzler has been working at the mikvah since it opened in March 1998 and spends her days maintaining the ritual bath.

The wait just heightens my curiosity to explore this so-called Jewish pool, and at last, with a little smile, she motions me toward one of the gray fold-out chairs lining the wall in her small, simple lobby. 

She drifts down into a chair next to a fold-out table and begins the mikvah lesson: “Imagine that mikvah is like a color, but a color you’ve never seen before, and if all you’ve been exposed to your entire life is blue or green and I’m trying to describe the color red to you. It’s impossible to understand. … You have to experience mikvah to really comprehend what it’s all about,” Schnitzler says.

The seven steps into the mikvah represent the seven days of creation.

Gathering of waters

Physically mikvah is, “a spiritual replacement for a flowing stream,” says Rabbi Paul Yedwab, the rabbi at Temple Israel in Bloomfield, Mich., which was the first synagogue in the world to offer a Reform mikvah for its congregants. 

“If you can imagine [the Jews] living in the land of Israel, which is a desert, they couldn’t have a flowing stream all year to purify themselves … [so they] would catch rain water in a treasury and then they would draw water into a much larger tub. When the rain water and the drawn water would kiss, it would spiritually turn the whole thing into a flowing stream.” 

For others, mikvah represents an esoteric renewal. 

“The word itself literally means a gathering of water that comes from the very beginning of Genesis,” says Aliza Kline, the executive director of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh, a progressive mikvah in the Boston area. “There’s this notion from the very beginning of creation that there’s something secret about the gathering of the waters.”

All makeup, nail polish and jewelry must be removed before entering the mikvah.

Inside the rabbit hole

After giving me a complete introduction to the mikvah, as she does with all her visitors, Schnitzler takes me farther into this hidden enclave, leading me past the lobby to our first stop in the mikvah experience — the bathroom. She exudes a maternal comfort that makes me feel as if I’m being led through a museum on a Sunday afternoon. A soothing humming sound emanates from the dryers in the next room as I squeeze through a thin hallway toward the bathroom. 

The bathroom itself is nothing spectacular, but it plays a vital role in the use of the mikvah. Toothpaste, floss, lotion, perfume and shampoo are neatly organized to help visitors cleanse themselves before entering the mikvah, as Jewish law mandates. That means showering and removing all clothes, jewelry, Band-Aids and even nail polish. 

“You are down to the pure essence of who you are as an individual,” explains Schnitzler. “You present yourself to God … from the deepest part of your heart without any fancy jewelry, without any fancy clothes — just from me to You.” 

Not your usual backyard pool

Schnitlzer opens the next door and I am led into yet another small room. This is the mikvah. 

A Jacuzzi-sized pool of water stands before me – not glistening or sparkling, just calmly waiting for use. The pool is built into the corner with seven steps leading down into its waters to represent the seven days of creation.

Traditionally the most common use of the mikvah is by Orthodox or Conservative women after a period of niddah, or menstruation. According to Jewish law, a woman who has just finished menstruating is forbidden from having sex with her husband until she has immersed herself in a mikvah. 

 “A mikvah has been considered one of the most essential Jewish institutions to build and the primary reason for that is because of the laws of niddah,” Kline of the Boston mikvah says. “Basically you can’t have sex if you don’t have a mikvah, and if you can’t have sex then you can’t have children, and that’s too high a value for the Jewish community, so you have to build a mikvah.”

Mikvah is so important explains Schnitzler, that if there are only enough funds to build either a synagogue or a mikvah in a Jewish community, the mikvah is required to be built first. 

Mikvah, however, has many other uses besides niddah. Non-Jews use the mikvah to convert to Judaism, and Jews use it to prepare for the High Holy Days. 

Today the uses of a mikvah are progressively expanding and becoming more creative. Kline explains that their visitors come to Mayyim Hayyim for all different reasons: before high school graduations, before b’nai mitzvahs, before starting chemotherapy, after birthdays, and even before trying to conceive a child. 

“This is a ritual that has enormous potential,” Kline says. “If any change in your life is going to take place … the water really helps mark that moment.”

Back at the mikvah, Schnitzler lets her words trail off and briefly stops speaking to me. We both seem to be reflecting for a moment in front of the water, pondering its spiritual powers. 

“It is so transformative,” Schnitzler resumes. “Whatever the specific reason is that someone comes, it always marks that separation in time, so it gives that person that opportunity to really look at past spiritual conduct and … examine more fully how they can improve upon their future spiritual conduct.”

According to Schnitzler, the water represents everything from the warmth of the spirit of God to Jewish culture to the laws of the Torah. 

“So as someone goes through their life, they may be going through difficulties,” she says. “But [in the mikvah] they are reminded that God’s spirit is always around them and the Jewish community is always around them holding them up. It’s very comforting,” she says.

Back to dry land

As I venture back into the sunlit front hall where I had entered, I find myself wondering why I had never heard of a mikvah before and why I had never been to one. After all, a mikvah is one of the most historic and ancient parts of Judaism.

“Mikvah is for all of us; this is part of our heritage and this is part of who we are,” Schnitzler says. “I might not fully understand what mikvah is about, but if it has gone on for 4,000 years and millions and millions of people have done it before me, then I feel a draw to it. I feel that there’s something there.”

It’s a personal experience. A trip to the mikvah is not required of a Jewish college student, but still it’s a shame that so many of us know little or nothing about this part of our tradition. 

Text by Grace Weitz

Photos by Jake Laub