The mikveh
by Shimi Cohen
The ritual bath, the mikveh (gathering of waters), is an ancient Jewish tradition relating to the concept of taharah (ritual purity) and tumah (ritual impurity).
In Biblical times, the ritual purity system related to Temple worship.
Taharah (purity), in its original meaning, referred to a state of being able to approach sancta (such as the Temple), and tumah (impurity) referred to a state of being unable to approach the same sancta, because of contact with death, illness, or with mysterious forces of life such as semen or childbirth .
Impurity could be contracted by approaching a corpse, by having a seminal emission, by certain illnesses, and by childbirth or menstruation.
In modern times, the condition of tumah is now usually used to refer to women who have menstruated, given birth, or had an unusual vaginal discharge (a woman in a state of menstrual "impurity" is called niddah).
Immersion in a mikveh can remove certain kinds of tumah, including the kind caused by menstruation and childbirth.
Since Talmudic times, Jews no longer relate to the laws of purity as a preparation for Temple worship.
Anyone may approach a synagogue or a Torah, even if he or she is ritually impure.
A Jewish man does not need to ritually immerse in order to pray if he has had a seminal emission, though in early Talmudic times this was required.
However, according to Biblical law, it is forbidden to have sexual intercourse with women who are menstruating or have recently given birth, until they have ceased bleeding, waited a certain period of time, and ritually immersed.
Since rivers are not the most modest or comfortable places to bathe in the nude, specially constructed baths that collect rainwater have been part of Jewish communities for millennia. Women go to these baths accompanied by a mikveh attendant, or shomeret (guardian), who checks to make sure that there are no stray foreign substances on the body before immersion takes place.
Mikveh is also used as a ritual "changemaker" to effect the conversion of non-Jews to Judaism. Because of its uses, mikveh is associated with spiritual change and renewal – it is, in effect, a rebirth ceremony.
Men sometimes use mikveh as a cleansing ritual prior to Shabbat and holidays – this is a mystical practice observed by mystics and hasidim, among others.
As a rebirth ceremony with ancient roots, mikveh connects Jews with their earliest spiritual practices.
I am 47 years old, based in Israel. I live in Kibbutz Givat Brener. Photography has been an important part of my life for the last five years. I roamed the streets taking photographs and developed my skills as a street photographer.
Photography gives me a different way to observe the world. 18mm is the way to see the wide of the universe, 35mm is the way to see the life of the human.
To take photos is my true love and passion and I strive to use my photos to tell a story. I am inspired by the life rhythms & constant flow of everything around me. I aim to expose the emotional side of human beings in the city streets, pushing the final image into a story. These days I concentrate most on documentary photography in series.
Photography is a very important part of my space... it is to discover, it is to capture giving flow to what the heart feels and sees in a certain moment, it is being in the street, experiencing, understanding, learning and, essentially, practicing the freedom of being, of living, of thinking.
I have won awards; and lost awards, but that isn’t what matters. What matters is chasing the light and sharing it!
EDUCATION : Technion, Haifa—A eronauticalEngineer TelAvivUniversity, TelAviv—B achelorofBusiness Administration
AWARDS: Local testimony 2017 Local testimony 2019 Local testimony 2020
Publications "Eye Photo Magazine", June 2019, May 2019 · Publication on 1X site, ProgressivEzine #12, Progressive website
PROJECTS : My work has been featured as part of the Fujilove magazine project: 12 Photographers Explore Israel Through Their Fujifilm Lenses: https://fujilove.com/12-photographers-explore-israel-through-their-fujifil m-lenses/?fbclid=IwAR3OBe_v0Ng0vOTfJpRtOEFixmtcIHJIp22QQbGVv8uTu -Kzcm4cPKpCWek
Took part in the project Day on the Streets of Jerusalem in May 2019: https://www.facebook.com/ dayonthestreetsof/