COURTESY OF BAIS CHABAD
OUR COMMUNITY
Bais Chabad ‘Upgrades’ New mikvah and playground at Bais Chabad will appeal to young families. BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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ABOVE: A sneak peak at the prep rooms for the new mikvah. TOP: A rendering of the Bais Chabad playground, opening this spring.
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FEBRUARY 10 • 2022
rthodox women are eagerly awaiting the opening of the new mikvah at the Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center of West Bloomfield synagogue on Maple Road east of Orchard Lake. The approximately 2,500-squarefoot facility, which is about triple the space of the current mikvah, is expected to open in May or June. A mikvah is a ritual bath used by Jews who have become ritually unclean, which is not the same as physically unclean. It is most often used by women before their weddings, after their menstrual periods and after childbirth. Converts to
Judaism need to immerse in a mikvah, and some men choose to do so before holy days or to mark life milestones. All mikvahs must include water from a natural source, such as rainwater. The Tugman Bais Chabad mikvah will include three separate spaces, for women, for men and for vessels — dishes and pots that need to be kashered by immersion before use. The women’s mikvah will be the centerpiece, and will look like a spa, said the congregation’s outreach director, Rabbi Shneur Silberberg. The project’s architect is Jason Rogers of Southfield.
