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Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'' or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism. In the Hebrew Bible, the word is employed in its broader sense but generally means a collection of water.〔''Jewish Encyclopedia''〕 Several biblical regulations specify that full immersion in water is required to regain ritual purity after ritually impure incidents have occurred. A person was required to be ritually pure in order to enter the Temple. In addition, a convert to Judaism is required to immerse in a mikveh as part of his/her conversion, and a woman is required to immerse in a mikveh after her menstrual period or childbirth before she and her husband can resume marital relations. In this context, "purity" and "impurity" are imperfect translations of the Hebrew "tahara" and "tumah", respectively, in that the negative connotation of the word impurity is not intended; rather being "impure" is indicative of being in a state in which certain things are prohibited (as relevant) until one has become "pure" again by immersion in a mikveh. Full ritual purity of the type needed to enter or serve in the Temple is not attainable by anyone today, as all are considered to be ritually impure by virtue of exposure to death (via exposure to corpses or to graves and cemeteries etc.), and that kind of ritual purity can only be obtained when the Jewish people have a Red heifer. Most forms of impurity can be nullified through immersion in any natural collection of water. However, some impurities, such as a zav, require "living water,"〔Leviticus 15:13〕 such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing, as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify. The ''mikveh'' is designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that remains in ritual contact with a natural source of water. Its main uses nowadays are: * by Jewish women to achieve ritual purity after menstruation or childbirth; * by Jewish men to achieve ritual purity (see details below); * as part of a traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism; * to immerse newly acquired utensils used in serving and eating food. In Orthodox Judaism, these regulations are steadfastly adhered to and, consequently, the mikveh is central to an Orthodox Jewish community; they formally hold in Conservative Judaism as well. The existence of a mikveh is considered so important in Orthodox Judaism that an Orthodox community is required to construct a mikveh before building a synagogue, and must go to the extreme of selling Torah scrolls or even a synagogue if necessary, to provide funding for the construction.〔Berlin, ''Meshib Dabar'', 2:45〕 Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism regard the biblical regulations as anachronistic to some degree, and consequently do not put much importance on the existence of a mikveh. Some opinions within Conservative Judaism have sought to retain the ritual requirements of a mikveh while recharacterizing the theological basis of the ritual in concepts other than ritual purity. Ancient mikvehs dating from before the late 1st century can be found throughout the land of Israel as well as in historic communities of the Jewish diaspora. In modern times, mikvehs can be found in most communities in Orthodox Judaism. Jewish funeral homes may have a mikveh for immersing a body during the purification procedure (''tahara'') before burial. ==Requirements of a mikveh== The traditional rules regarding the construction of a mikveh are based on those specified in classical rabbinical literature. According to these rules, a mikveh must be connected to a natural spring or well of naturally occurring water, and thus can be supplied by rivers and lakes which have natural springs as their source.〔Sifra on Leviticus 11:36〕 A cistern filled by the rain is also permitted to act as a mikveh's water supply. Similarly snow, ice and hail are allowed to act as the supply of water to a mikveh, as long as it melts in a certain manner.〔Mikvaot 7:1.〕 A river that dries up on a regular basis cannot be used because it is presumed to be mainly rainwater, which cannot purify while flowing. Oceans for the most part have the status of natural springs. A mikveh must, according to the classical regulations, contain enough water to cover the entire body of an average-sized person; based on a mikveh with the dimensions of 3 cubits deep, 1 cubit wide, and 1 cubit long, the necessary volume of water was ''estimated'' as being 40 ''seah'' of water.〔Eruvin 4b〕〔Yoma 31a〕 The exact volume referred to by a ''seah'' is debated, and classical rabbinical literature specifies only that it is enough to fit 144 eggs;〔Numbers Rabbah, 18:17〕 most Orthodox Jews use the stringent ruling of the Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, according to which one ''seah'' is 14.3 litres, and therefore a mikveh must contain approximately 575 litres.〔about 3 Koku, about 116 qafiz, about 126 Imperial Gallons, about 143 Burmese tins, and about 150 U.S. liquid gallons〕 This volume of water could be topped up with water from any source,〔Mikvaot 3.〕 but if there were less than 40 seahs of water in the mikveh, then the addition of 3 or more pints of water from an unnatural source would render the mikveh unfit for use, regardless of whether water from a natural source was then added to make up 40 seahs from a natural source;〔 a mikveh rendered unfit for use in this way would need to be completely drained away and refilled from scratch.〔 There are also classical requirements for the manner in which the water can be stored and transported to the pool; the water must flow naturally to the mikveh from the source, which essentially means that it must be supplied by gravity or a natural pressure gradient, and the water cannot be pumped there by hand or carried. It was also forbidden for the water to pass through any vessel which could hold water within it (however pipes open to the air at both ends are fine)〔Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 201:36〕 As a result, tap water could not be used as the primary water source for a mikveh, although it can be used to top the water up to a suitable level.〔 To avoid issues with these rules in large cities, various methods are employed to establish a valid mikveh. One is that tap water is made to flow over the top of a kosher mikveh, and through a conduit into a larger pool. A second method is to create a mikveh in a deep pool, place a floor with holes over that and then fill the upper pool with tap water. In this way, the person dipping is actually "in" the pool of rain water. Most contemporary mikvehs are indoor constructions, involving rain water collected from a cistern, and passed through a duct by gravity into an ordinary bathing pool; the mikveh can be heated, taking into account certain rules, often resulting in an environment not unlike a spa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「mikveh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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