BECOMING JEWISH
  • Welcome to Becoming Jewish!
  • What's New?
  • Reading Recommendations
  • About Our Rabbis
  • Jewish Places in the Bay Area
  • What Do I Have to Do to Become Jewish?
  • Why Be Jewish?
  • Online Jewish Resources
  • Our Conversion Stories
  • Judaism FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Blog: Into the Jewish Pool
  • Media Coverage
  • Converting Outside the USA
  • Conversion Videos

An Ocean Mikvah

11/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
An ocean mikvah experience in Hawaii
Can you use the ocean for your mikvah? You can! A friend of mine who LOVES the water asked about using the ocean. I contacted the conversion mentor, Lisa, at Sherith Israel because she told me that they have done ocean mikvahs. She asked one of her conversion students to write about his experience. Here's what he had to say.

When the day of my mikvah had come, it was typical San Francisco foggy weather but something was obviously different about it. I felt a bit intimidated by what's going to happen to me, yet I was calm and at peace. It felt that something very important is going to occur, spiritually significant. When I was taking off my clothes with the skies being orange because of the smoke from forest fires, I caught myself correlating this with the verses, when the world was just emerging in the Torah and that the culmination of the most important moment in my life is about to happen. I was ready to step into the cold waters of the Bay but, surprisingly, the water was beyond comfortable, as if HaShem covered me with his warm tallit to save me from cold temperatures. Rabbi Jessica and Lisa were mentally holding my hands as I went further and further into the water. All my intimidation disappeared once I looked back at them. Water became very pleasant. When Rabbi Jessica pronounced the prayers and I submerged three times - my entire life flashed in front of my eyes, even the moments that I almost forgot about! Once I came back from the water, the world became different, clearer, I even became more aware of the people and notions around me. This is something I don't think I can explain with simple words: it must be felt and the feeling is amazing. This was especially important for me because this way I spiritually bring my Jewish ancestors together and keep that connection: my long-"erased" Jewish ancestry is now restored! That's why my entire conversion at Sherith Israel was so important to me. 
--Aharon 

I turned back to the conversion mentor, Lisa, for more details about an ocean immersion. I asked about HOW it is done and about the temperature of the water. She said:

We did the two Bay mivkahs I attended at the beach by the St. Francis Yacht Club; I believe the other one was at Aquatic park, but more or less same environment. The people stripped down to bathing suits on the beach, went into the water and removed their bathing suits under water. After performing their immersions they put their bathing suits back on under water and came out. We wrapped them in towels to dry off and then the put their clothes back on; there is a restroom very close by that they could use if they wanted to remove their wet bathing suits before putting their clothes on. They recited the Shema in the water. They did not hold a Torah - we don’t do that at the indoor mikvah either; the recitation of the Shema is the last thing after the immersions. We all shivered and sang siman tov and mazel tov. 

My sense is that people have found the water to be very cold but they are so excited that it doesn’t actually  feel cold; both the people I witnessed said it felt good.

Quite honestly, because it’s the Pacific Ocean, hence cold, windy, and usually choppy water, it’s kind of a hodgepodge. It’s hard to hear because of the wind; they can only let go of their bathing suits for a brief second, etc. Immersion in a calm ocean or lake would be a much more tranquil affair and offer more opportunity for intentionality. And yet, you see from Aharon’s narrative how meaningful it was to him to do it this way.


I can't resist sharing with you Aharon's additional comments about making aliyah and living in Jerusalem.

The High Holy Days were magnificent here! I got to know a couple of families in the suburbs of Jerusalem who are affiliated with the Ramban synagogue and we had an amazing celebration. It truly feels more connected to HaShem over here, even though they're from the Orthodox denomination. I know different parts of Israel are quite different in a religious sense like Jerusalem can go too extreme in terms of observance but nobody really cares about Judaism in Eilat. I love Jerusalem! I truly found my spiritual destination here and will stay here. Probably, I'll have to undergo Orthodox conversion (more symbolic, than actual) here as Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl will require it to become a full-fledged member. I'm shocked about the number of young Americans in there who study the Torah with such dedication. The English version of the Torah comes in handy as I'm still learning Biblical Hebrew. Russian too, to be honest, but, I believe, submerging myself into the language environment - that's the only good way of actually learning the language. Yes, it's very challenging, but having such a big team with me is very important, a day here flies by very fast when I'm at the Torah discussion. I'm absolutely grateful to HaShem that I ended up here, in the Holy Land.

You can read more here on My Jewish Learning, but I found this article to be rather discouraging.

0 Comments

    Thoughts from our Email List

    Hopefully our blog entries will concern issues that matter to YOU, the curious about Judaism.  Please let us know what you'd like to read about!

    Categories

    All
    After Conversion
    Anti Semitism
    Beit Din
    Blessings
    Child Conversion
    Christmas
    Circumcision
    Connecting
    Conservative Judaism
    Conversion Process
    Dating/relationships
    Death/Shiva
    Find A Rabbi
    God
    Hanukkah
    Hatafat Dam Brit
    Hebrew Name
    Hell
    History
    Holidays & Fast Days
    Interfaith
    Jewish Places
    Kashrut
    LGBT
    Mikvah
    Mitvot/Commandments
    Mourning
    Movements
    Non Jewish Family
    Non-Jewish Family
    Orthodox Judaism
    Parenting
    Passover
    Personal Stories
    Questions From Readers
    Reform Judaism
    Social Justice
    Spirituality
    Synagogues
    Torah
    Transgender
    Why Be Jewish?
    Yahrzeit

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010

BecomingJewish.net is a great resource for anyone who is thinking about converting to Judaism or has recently become Jewish.