[Avodah] mikva shitos

[Zev Sero]

kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
> R' Zev Sero wrote:

>> In Europe until the 19th century there was almost no such
>> thing as a rain-water mikveh.  Everyone knew that one can
>> also make a mikveh from mei geshomim, but nobody did so.

> So then how *were* their mikvaos filled? Did they dig deep wells?

Yes.  Almost all mikvaos were springs or wells.  Some were built into the
sides of rivers (like Victorian bathing machines).

This had obvious problems: such mikvaos are impossible to heat, and often
they had to be dug very deep, forcing women to go down a long way in the
semi-dark to get to the water.  And of course when a woman is cold and
scared it's not an optimal time for her to concentrate on making a good
tevilah.  So various contrivances were invented to bring the water closer
to the surface, and to pour hot water in and keep it from instantly
dissipating.  One of the Baal Hatanya's proudest achievements was the
design of a wooden box that complied with the opinion of every rishon,
and that could be lowered into the water and filled with hot water which
would last long enough for a woman to use it once.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher