Mikvah (sometimes
transliterated as "
mikveh") refers to the
Jewish practice of
ritual immersion, or the
setting in which the
practice takes place.
Ritual immersion in water is used to purify a person or object in accordance with halachah.
Perhaps the best known use of the mikvah is that of Jewish married woman who, practice the laws of "family purity," undergoing ritual immersion several days after the conclusion of each menstrual period. However, men (and even inanimate objects) may undergo purification in a mikvah.
According to a Talmudic ruling, this observance is so crucial to a traditional Jewish community that it is permitted to sell its Torah scolls to finance the construction or maintenance of a mikvah.