THE MIKVEH AT MASADA

Excavations uncovered a ritual bath or 'mikveh' at Masada

After a woman menstruated, she had to bathe herself from head to toe in a special pool of clean water, called a 'mikveh'.

Each  community had its mikveh, and Masada was no exception. Towns and cities throughout Israel had large numbers of them, some public, some private.

The mikveh pool had to be designed and built a special way, so that it had

• enough head room under water to allow complete immersion
• a supplementary tank to gather clean rain water
• a small pool at the entrance for washing hair, hands and feet before entering the main pool.

The purpose of the monthly immersion in the mikveh was physical and spiritual cleanliness. The washing of the body was a tangible way to refresh mental, emotional and physical energies.

It was a ritual that periodically gave each person a fresh start.

The rules of ritual cleanliness meant that most men and women were obliged to wash themselves, wash their clothes, and put on clean clothes at frequent intervals.There is no doubt that the hygiene that resulted from the purity laws was beneficial to the health of the whole nation.