Brooklyn, NY - Rabbis Say Private Ritual Baths Like One in Explosion Are Rare

Brooklyn, NY - For years, Orthodox communities in New York and elsewhere have worked to revive the Jewish ritual of bathing in small pools known as mikvahs, building ever more elegant and comfortable versions to attract patrons accustomed to the gleaming Jacuzzis of spas, clubs and resorts.

Usually taken by married women, the baths are typically housed in free-standing buildings or are next to a synagogue.
But private mikvahs, like the one engulfed by an explosion in a south Brooklyn basement on Tuesday, are rare, several rabbis and Jewish community leaders said. "It's an expensive undertaking, so not many people have the room for one or the interest," said Rabbi Kastel of Crown Heights. "you're talking in the tens of thousands of dollars."

Rabbi Kastel said that there were less than a dozen public mikvahs in Crown Heights, and only one or two private ones that he was aware of.

"Private baths are a luxury, but not unheard of," said Rabbi Avi Shafran of the Agudath Israel. "A rabbi with knowledge of mikvahs would have to oversee construction," he said. "But any capable architect would be able to do it."