Last month, my chavruta partner and I started talking about the amazing experience we had at the mikveh when we went for our conversions, and we thought it would be wonderful to start going together before Yom Tov (holidays). We'd each independently wanted to go back for some time, but were convinced that we would meet with resistance. The mikveh (more on it in a bit) is traditionally used mostly by married women for reasons associated with menstruation and sex. As such, it has built up a lot of taboo-like associations, including a general rule that single women are "discouraged" from attending (because the community mikveh generally falls under the supervision of the local Orthodox rabbinic authority, "discouraged" could easily become "forbidden").
However, married women aren't the only ones who make legitimate use of the mikveh in traditional Judaism, as many men go to use the mikveh before Shabbat or Yom Tov. With this alternate use to back me up, I finally gathered the courage to call - and ended up leaving a message on the mikveh answering machine.
So I spent the next few days making up all sorts of worst-case scenerio conversations I figured would come up when I got a call-back. I imagined an inquisition - Was I married? How old am I? Why wasn't I married yet? Lynch doesn't sound like a Jewish name - did I convert? Orthodox? No? Well then you're not Jewish. Etc. . .
When I finally did get the call, the conversation went something like this.
Mikveh lady - "I assume your friend is also a woman?"
Me - "Yes."
Mikveh lady - "Women's hours are after 9 pm. The fee is $18. You need to make an appointment 3 days in advance."
And so that was it. No fuss. No trying to impose Orthodox practices. No judgments about why we wanted to use the mikveh. Just a very simple, matter-of-fact arrangement.
I know there are others at my congregation who have wanted to go to the mikveh for non-traditional reasons (birthdays, anniversaries, graduation from the adult bar/bat mitzvah class) - and have either been turned away (only one case that I know of) or have assumed that they would be. Hopefully, by sharing my experience with the community, the amazing experience that is the mikveh can become more accessible to those in the non-traditional streams of Judaism.
To continue the story, after making our appointment and getting directions from the mikveh scheduling coordinator, my friend and I set out to Sacramento. Here a disclaimer and a word of warning. First, although I did call three days in advance, we were told that priority had to be given to women using the mikveh for the traditional reason and that we wouldn't know until the morning of whether we would fit into the schedule or not. This turned out to not be a problem, as we ended up being the only appointment that night. Secondly, the Google maps directions to the mikveh are wrong and will take you to the synagogue 10+ miles away.
After a not too eventful trip, we found the mikveh nestled in a residential neighborhood in Carmichaeal, just a few miles from CSU Sac. The mikveh lady met us at the door, opened the place up for us, showed us around, and left us to ourselves with an exhortation to lock the door and turn off the lights when we leave.
The mikveh building itself is a tiny addition to someone's house. When you walk in, there's an itsy-bitsy waiting room that I couldn't even get in one picture without standing outside. So here's the front door and a little desk holding a few brochures on "family purity" and breast cancer self checks and a basket holding packages of bedikah cloths.
And here's the other side of the room. The door on the right leads to the bathroom - which is fully stocked with every toiletry you can imagine. The door on the left leads to the mikveh itself.
A couple of pictures of the mikvah itself.
More later . . . This post is too long!
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