A Historical Review

Shoshana Michael-Zucker

Before Kibbutz Hannaton was founded in 1984, the founders (of whom I was one) wrote to the "Committee for Family Purity in the Land of Israel" and asked them to fund the construction of a mikve. As a matter of course, they sent a copy of their reply to the regional rabbi. The rabbi was surprised to  receive correspondence about a mikve in his region, at a community of which
he was unaware. He hadn't never heard of the kibbutz for the simple reason that it didn't exist yet but very shortly after the kibbutz was founded, he came for a visit. I met with him, showed him around and explained a little about Conservative Judaism and stressed how difficult going to the mikve in another kibbutz was for women with young children and two cars for
fifteen families.

As we sat in the dining room, he asked, "Tell me the truth, how many people will actually use it. These are hard commandments to keep. Even on my Orthodox moshav, I know that not all families actually keep them, they just don't talk about it." I answered that however many used the mikveh now, more would use it there were one more easily accessible. He agreed to support the request.

Actual financing and construction took about eight years. Not unusual by Israeli standards. Indeed, the mikve we used in the meantime, at a
neighboring Orthodox kibbutz, was only built more quickly because they had an outside donor. In fact, someone there once told us that if we
couldn't raise our own money, the Committee would never get their act together. At Hannaton, we decided not to ask the Conservative movement to raise money for a mikve both because we doubted that they could and as a matter of principle, that the Committee for Family Purity was supposed to build mikva'ot for new settlements and so we would stand on our rights. In the end they did.

In the years I was actively involved in dealing with the Committee, they never asked who we were or why we wanted a mikve. On our part, we were
careful always to dress in a very modest fashion when visiting their office and never mentioned the issue of conversion. Conservative and Reform
conversations were very much in the news at the time and we didn't want trouble. Their cause was family purity and we kept the matter focused
on that.

Then, when the mikve was built and invitations for dedication ceremony were distributed, a spokesperson for the Masorti Movement told a radio interviewer, "Now Conservative converts will have a decent mikve." The Family Purity people didn't like that and changed the lock. We changed it back. It took a couple of days and a lot of phone calls but things finally calmed done and the dedication was held on schedule and the mikve opened.

Comments of the Kibbutz’s Representative at the Dedication of the Hanaton Mikve

March 1993

Shoshana Michael-Zucker

Rabbi Akiva said: “Blessed are you, O Israel. Before whom are you made clean and who makes you clean? Your parent in heaven; as it is written, and I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean (Ezekiel 36:25).” And it is written: Adonai is Israel’s mikve (or hope) (Jeremiah 17:13). Just as a mikve purifies the impure, so the Holy One purifies Israel. (Mishna Yoma, 8:9)

In its original location at the end of the tractate on Yom Kippur, this mishna is intended to teach and remind that it is neither the Temple service nor the ritual enacted by the High Priest but rather the Holy One ‘personally’ who purifies Israel.

If the Holy One purifies Israel, why do we need a mikve that is constructed according to precise and detailed measurements? Even if these measurements are essential, why is it necessary to transport the water through a unique and complex system?

Human logic would assert that there is another, better way that is simpler and less expensive. However, the purpose of Torah is not to make our lives simple but rather to make them holy. If it were easy to keep the commandments and we could do it without effort or special intention, keeping them would not bring holiness into our lives. “As Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya said: ‘Adonai was pleased for His righteousness' sake, to increase and glorify the Torah.’(Isaiah 42:21)” (Mishna Makkot 3.16).

The message that I would to transmit to all those who contributed to building the mikve at Hannaton is: building this specific mikve in this particular place, where people are less accustomed to keeping the commandments related to the mikve, is a genuine expansion of Torah. It was always clear that the building the mikve would make it easier for the couples who, despite the difficulty, have traveled for years to Beit Rimon, Sde Ya’akov and Hoshaya. Today, we would like to thank those settlements and their faithful mikve ladies. In addition, a psychological barrier has been lowered. The very presence of the mikve here has sparked curiosity, created interest and motivated study of an entire set of commandments that did not previously receive much attention in this community. In the name of all Hannaton, I thank you today. May you merit many more years of holy work in the Land of Israel.