The Williamsburg kehilla is eagerly awaiting the opening of a magnificent new shul on Throop Avenue, a project spearheaded by noted philanthropist Reb Yoeli Landau. With Pesach fast approaching, efforts are in full swing to ensure every detail is completed on time—including the construction of the mikvah. R’ Yoeli has gone to extraordinary lengths to guarantee the mikvah is filled with kosher water in time for Pesach – by bringing in fresh snow trucked in from Vermont!
The snow, was brought in via a refrigerated truck to ensure it remained pristine and untouched, in accordance with halachic requirements.
This method, while uncommon, is not unprecedented—nearly two decades ago, YWN reported on a similar operation that was carried out in Eretz Yisroel to prepare a mikvah for Gush Katif refugees who had settled in the Western Negev. At the time, with rain scarce, Merkaz Artzi Lemaan Taharas Hamishpochoh BeYisroel coordinated a massive effort to transport 30 cubic meters of snow from Neveh Ativ in the Golan Heights. The snow was carefully packed into sealed sacks, trucked across the country, and lifted by crane onto the rooftop of the mikvah, where it melted directly into the bor otzar.
Now, Williamsburg’s Yidden are witnessing a similar mesirus nefesh to ensure that this mikvah is ready for Pesach.
With just a few short weeks to go, workers are pushing full force to complete this stunning makom tefillah.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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11 Responses
“Mesirus nefesh” to get the mikvah ready in time for Pesach. Hmm, you’d almost think there is no other mikvah in Williamsburg to call this “Mesirus nefesh”!
The reason of snow in the mishna is because it didn’t land in a vessel it is still in mid air, if you take it and put it a closed place you can use water, a plastic bag is a vessel, the truck closed is a vessel, using snow is only if you carry it pure from the outside to the mikva, the shovel is mkabel tumah even if it doesn’t catch water it is vessel the crain is also mkabel tumah who says that if a person is tameh he can’t make the snow tameh, definitely not for niddah
Limaaseh, it’s a gorgeous Shul and building. Beautiful mikvah.
So if you capture water in the right sort of container, you don’t have to deal with the problem having the precipitation fall into the mikva? This may solve many problems especially in places such as deserts (and in the not so distant future, on space ships or waterless planets). I wonder if any gedolim endorsed this?
What a stupid article… Mesirus Nefesh? How can u belittle the words Mesirus Nefesh so badly….
A silly show at best. Needs a lights and siren escort??? Nothing but HPO..
Nope – good for Tevilos d’Oraisa. This is far from the first such case. In Arizona, for example, where it rarely rains, this is how the women’s Mikvah was opened years ago.
ועמך כולם צדיקים
אשריך ישראל
.’s comment is wrong and ignorant of the halochos!
Snow or ice does not become mayim she’uvim, until it melts. It can be shoveled and placed in a truck or vessel.
However, if/when it starts to melt, the melted snow (water) can become mayim
she’uvim if it is in a vessel. Hence the need for a refrigerated truck to keep it as snow or ice.
Some make sure the truck has an open
drain on its floor, so that even if the snow
melted a bit, the open drain removes the
status of a vessel from the truck.
These mikva builders are guided by poskim that know their halochos and have expertise in this area of halacha. They make sure the mikva is mehudar 100%.
Learn a bit of halacha before posting silly
comments! Chazal warn against mocking the validity of kosher mikvos. Usually a ben-nida is guilty of that.
Very important mission. I’m sure the kehila can now rest easy now that they’ll have there mikvah ready for pesach.
This is actually important, even if the idea of importing snow to New York is a bit silly. As Jews leave (flee) anti-Semitism in blue states, those who want to stay in the United States will probably end up in red states including and especially Texas and Arizona, which have very limited rain. Also if Israel can’t defeat the Arabs without American help and while American anti-Semitism is growing, we may need to consider migration off-world, and a mikva on a spaceship or a dry planet such as the Moon or Mars, will be problematic.
Half of you are a bunch of misnagdim haters