WHAT IS A MIKVEH?
A Mikveh is a gathering of natural water for ritual immersion. To be suitable for immersions, a mikveh must: 1. be comprised of a minimum of forty seah, approx. 200 gallons of natural water such as rainwater, springs, rivers, lakes, oceans, snow, ice, but excludes drawn water. 2. be constructed as to permit complete immersion in one act 3. be a container built permanently into the ground and may not be a portable receptacle. PREPARING FOR THE MIKVEH Before immersing in the Mikveh, we remove anything that would act as a barrier between the waters and ourselves. We enter the waters when we are physically clean. When immersing we must make sure that all of our body and hair is submerged. A Mikveh attendant of the same sex as the person immersing stands near the mikveh to make sure this occurs. We immerse once, say the appropriate blessings and then immerse twice more. Some may immerse a total of seven or even ten times depending on their own minhag (custom). The blessings are provided on
