Orthodox Jewish Women Are Facing an Impossible Choice Right Now
Around the country, Jewish communities have all but shut down, closing synagogues, canceling Passover seders, conducting funerals by Zoom. Yet one kind of Jewish public space has remained mostly open: mikvahs, or pools used for ritual immersions.
Each month, when they get their period, some Jewish women observe a time of niddah, or ritual impurity. As long as they’re bleeding, and often for at least a week afterward, they can’t have sex with their partner. Many couples won’t hug or kiss, sleep in the same bed, or even pass objects to each other. Under any circumstances, this can be challenging to maintain. Imagine what it’s like under quarantine.
In order to exit this state of , women must visit the mikvah, usually a small, humid, windowless room where another woman watches them dip, naked, into a pool of water that maybe a dozen other women have already used. For many who observe the laws of , the prospect of immersing during the COVID-19 outbreak is terrifying: Many mikvahs are
