Mikva on Luz

With regard to the planned mikva on Luz:

Just to clarify, we have absolutely nothing against building mikvaos. We simply feel that any mikva that is built with a large amount of public, taxpayer money, and donations from all segments of the community, should be set up for all of the women in the community with achdus as a priority. There is no reason at all that it should be given to only one particular Rav, no matter who he is, or how nice he is. Doesn't everyone agree that the best thing would be to have a group of rabbanim that sit together b'achdus and come up with guidelines so that everyone is comfortable there? That would mean that a women who wants to fulfill the mitzva 100% properly can do so, with no extra chumros imposed upon her whatsoever, and at the same time women who want extra chumros should have that option made available as well. Women have contacted us saying that they would lke to know which Rav they will be able to turn to, if they are in fact pressured to accept more machmir "mehadrin checking," as opposed to standard Lakewood/Boro Park type checking currently provided at Lachish. Will any other Rabonim be given a say in this "community mikva"? The organizers should also insist that the mikva ladies working there should be selected based strictly on objective criteria, and not based on their head covering, or what type of schools they send their children to.

We would like to reply to an e-mail we received from "themikva@gmail.com", a person stating that he/she has been very involved with the mikva project on Luz for the past 4-5 years. This person sounds very concerned and well thought out, and we feel that with a little fine tuning of the focus to be more about achdus, and ahavas yisroel, could really help make sure that the Luz mikva will be for all the women in RBS-A. We would like to address the comments below, along with our responses.

"Another proof of the need is that the iriya themselves understand that there is a need for more rooms. We have received a grant for over 500,000 NIS, plus the plot of land. I don’t need to convince ANYONE that if there was no need, the iriya would not be giving a plot of land and a grant!!!"

Actually you do need to convince us. If they believed it was NEEDED, they would pay to build the entire mikva just like they did with Dolev and Lachish. Your logic is like saying "Obviously the iriya has decided that the the Ma'ar in RBS-A and the shopping center near Maapilei Egoz will lead to pritzus- the proof is that they aren't building them." You seem like a very tmimusdik person that tries to see the good in everything, which is very admirable, but unfortunately, the fact is that political considerations are often what drive the Iriya's decisions.


"...without RBS B or the Kirya, the mikvaos locally would never manage alone. The proof is the long wait lines on Friday night, when everyone uses the local mikvaos and nobody needs longer than 10-15 minutes, yet the wait time can go on for a long time. ... "

We have already stated that there will be 10 rooms set up as mehadrin on Dolev. Are you trying to deny that? That is double the current number (five) on Lachish. Additionally, the rooms downstairs at Lachish do not have such long lines due to all the women who don't go down there.

"....This also does not take into account that many local “charedi” women do not do a hefsek tahara on Friday night precisely for this reason. They do not wish to use the local mikvaos. And without all these women there are still long lines."

This is a very shocking statement. We knew that the constant rumor-mongering about the status of the mikva on Lachish was a very harmful thing, but ad k'dei kach?? What a terrible thing, that women would deliberately not go to the mikva at the appropriate time, due to the horrible whisper campaign about the mikva! That is scandalous. And of course it's all being done in the name of being frummer. So for those who say to us "What do you care if a Rav says don't use the mikva on Lachish?" Here's your answer. Every frum Jew should be horrified to hear that women avoid going to the mikva on time as a result of sinas chinam and politics.

Imagine if we had a group of Rabbanim from all segments of the community, who joined together to work on the mikva guidelines at all the RBS-A mikvaos b'achdus. Wouldn't that be beautiful and amazing? Although in America that is commonplace and unremarkable, here it would be a tremendous kiddush Hashem. Some people have written comments like "Welcome to Eretz Yisroel" implying that we are making a big deal about nothing. If people feel that politics and infighting are a ma'ale of Eretz Yisroel, then we have to agree to disagree. We believe that those of us who have come here from Chutz Laaretz, should hold community leaders to at least the same standard that has been set up in our countries of origin. Coming to live Eretz Yisroel should be an aliya ruchni, we should not accept a lowering in any aspect of our avodas Hashem, whether it's ben adam l'Makom or bein adam l'chaveiro.