Hallandale Beach, FL – It’s part of a Jewish religious duty for married women — a monthly bath.
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Yet in Hallandale Beach, Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus was hearing whispers that some orthodox women hadn’t been participating in the mikvah.
The ones who have multiple sclerosis or other forms of paralysis found that getting in and out of the bath, which is shaped more like a sunken whirlpool than a tub, was too much of an ordeal.
“We’ve been informed in confidence that certain women have opted not to go to the mikvah because of the embarrassment,” said Tennenhaus, executive vice president of Chabad of South Broward.
So the first mikvah with a hydraulic lift in the southeastern United States — and one of only a few in the world — could be completed within weeks. It will be the first mikvah of any kind in Hallandale Beach.
“Hydraulic lifts will really make it much more private and dignified,” said Tennenhaus, whose synagogue will run the new $750,000 facility.
There are numerous mikvahs at synagogues in South Florida, including those in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Weston, Plantation and Lauderhill.
But Rabbi Sholom Grossbaum said the only mikvahs he knows of with hydraulic lifts to accommodate the handicapped are in Jerusalem, Monsey, N.Y., and Brooklyn.
Grossbaum, of Minnesota, flew to Hallandale Beach last month to oversee some of the construction. He is a well-known mikvah consultant who makes sure the pools and buildings comport with religious codes. Recently he has traveled to Germany, France and Montana to check out facilities.
“We knew of a need,” Tennenhaus said of the special lift. “So we said when we do build a mikvah, let’s do it right.”
Excellent!
This is the true meaning of CHESED!!!
This is really gret, good for them!!
Doesn’t the flatbush mikvah on L and ocean ave have one?
Problem is that for most people this is a Chabad Mikvah and for those that dont hold Chabad views on mikvah design are left out.
Having said that I think its a great idea.
I KNEW IT!!! I just KNEW that someone, somewhere, would bash it because it’s Chabad. So you, 11:50, would rather a frum relative of yours who may be R”L disabled NOT use the Mikveh because it’s run, built, & supported by Chabad & their supporters? SHAME ON YOU!! Why don’t YOU build a Mikveh for the disabled if you care so much?
As for all you Chabad haters out there…don’t you think it’s about time you started putting things in perspective? Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting…you can’t think on your own.
there is already on at the Mikvah in Teaneck
If I’m not mistaken I believe Chabad is more machmir in the kashrus of Mikvaos (Bor b’toch bor etc.)
To Anonymous 11:50
Bor al gabei bor is a chumrah. It is not ‘chabad style’. It is perfectly kosher for misnagdim too.
The issue of a Chabad Mikvah is not a Chabad-bashing issue at all. There is a Halachic dispute regarding how “Bor al gabei bor” is to be interpreted; Chabad holds one way (I believe – but may be mistaken – that they hold that there are to be two Boros, one literally above the other), and just about all others hold the other way (here too I believe – but may be mistaken – that the Shita is that there should be one large bor of 80 Se’ah, double the minimum required 40 Se’ah). You can’t say that one is more or less machmir than the other; it is just a dispute on what is the correct method.
Stam a Yid
This is not “Chabad bashing”. Lubavitch has a different Shita on how to build a mikva that many other Poskim do not hold of. The Machlokes goes back all the way to the Baal HaTanya.
BTW the mikva in Lakewood has had a lift for the past 15 years.
if nuchem rosenberg is the baal machshir then its not good according to the “rabbonim”
lubavitch holds bor al gabei bor, and others hold that the boros should be side by side. However, if you study the laws in depth, the chabad way minimizes any chances of the bor becoming posul.
Travel,
While I deplore the hidden message of Anon 11:50’s comment, I must point out that there is something to that comment. The problem with the chabad mikva design is a halachic issue, not a political one. While Anon 11:50’s comment ‘shmeked’ of the old chabad bashing that this blog has seen in the past it is a valid point, that not everyone can benefit from this new innovative and great help for mikva goers.
This is a design issue. Chabad mikvahs use a design that was used by the Tzemach Tzedek a massive posek in his day. There was another posek in his time that argued and held that the design that the Tzemach Tzedek used was incorrect and violated a mishna in mikvoos. We are talking about giants in torah on both sides! No one should rant and rave about the other side’s opinion today. Each one was a giant in torah and had many proofs to their halachic decision. In light of this difference of opinion as in any case of halachic law we usually try to include both views. This way even if I don’t agree with your view I don’t violate my own (lets say more machmir view).
It’s in this case that many vent their feelings in these blogs (and attack Chabad). Both views of mikva can be built in one design yet we see that these new mikvas are never built to include the other (different) shita. Why exclude others from your great mitzva? It usually boils down to cost. To include the other chumros (design) usually increase the total cost of the project.
That said, I would really hesitate to say that the Tzemach Tzedek’s view can’t be relied upon when chaivei koros is envolved. This was a tzadik and goan in halacha! Yes the other side was also a tzaddik and a goan, but even he would never call someone who relied on his opponent’s psak a kofer and mumar etc as to the ‘accolades’ on these message boards.
on what basis can you “passul” a bor al gav bor mikveh?
Isn’t that MORE mehudar than bor al yad bor???
I think the Klosenberger Chassidim have a way of making the Mikvah to abide to BOTH opinions.
I personnally know Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus Shlit”a. my mother and aunt prayed at his shul for many years. Rabbi Tennenhaus truly personifies the rebbe TZ”L teaching and a true Talmid Hochom and Yiras Shomayim. May he continue with his work of Kedusha V’Tohahra at Be-as Moshiach. His only interest is Klall Yisroel and mikadish shem shomayim.
Tizku L’mitzvahs.
If there is way that both shitos can be accomodated then it would be a beautiful thing
if ANYONE making such a rare mikvah for unfortunate invalids would reach out to the Klall
(the other shita followers) to help pay the extra cost involved in making the mikvah universally
acceptable.
i heard the mikvah in monsey also has a lift
The Miami Beach mikveh also has a lift.
Where there is no lift, arrangements are made for the mikveh ladies to assist the lady into the mikveh.
I have an immediate family member with MS who would prefer to be assisted into the mikveh rather than lifted like a piece of cargo (naked) on a lift.
It is less embarrassing to need help getting into the mikveh with than it is to have your naked body examined by the mikveh lady (which every woman must endure).
Many MS’ers do swim for exercise and muscle tone and manage to get into the pool every day.
When the mikveh lady prays to the Rebbe for you, which is typical at most Chabad mikvoth, or offers you to “drink Rebbe mikveh water” as a cure, that is the real turn off to most, disabled or not.
There is also a lift in the main women’s mikvah in Chicago.
Derech Emes Says:
I think the Klosenberger Chassidim have a way of making the Mikvah to abide to BOTH opinions.
Thanks for bringing this up and avoiding the chabad bashing (esp. in Elul all u commenters who claim to follow the Chofetz Chaim)
The Klausenbergers follow the Divrei Chaim who built a bor al gabei bor min hatzad. The bor of mei geshomim is side by side with the bor hatevilah, and under the mei geshomim is another bor of mei geshomim. The Chabad chumra is a bor of mei geshomim under the bor hatevilah. It is a chumra, and most people commenting here are great at showing their am’aharatzus on top of their anti-semitism.
BTW, most Chabad mikvas built in the USA today, esp. in smaller communities, are built with bor al gabel bor and bor min hatzad. This in done to make everyone comfortable with the mikva, even thought Chabad holds bor min hatzad is not needed. This is pretty close to the Divrei Chaim’s shita.
“When the mikveh lady prays to the Rebbe for you, which is typical at most Chabad mikvoth, or offers you to “drink Rebbe mikveh water” as a cure, that is the real turn off to most, disabled or not.”
What are you talking about? That is ridiculous. Have you been to most Chabad mikvot that you can say this is typical? I live in Broward as well and avail myself of the many mikva facilities in the Broward area and no one has ever done that to me. Not in Boyton Beach, not in Plantation, not in Inverrary, not in Ft. Lauderdale, not in Coral Springs, not in Boca Raton where there is the Chabad Mikvah and regular in one building and people can say which they want. Who offers you ‘Rebbe mikva water’? No one has ever done that to me. In all of these places, I have encountered professionally run mikvot that are staffed by knowledgeable, pleasant Rebbitzens or attendants.
Secondly, you inject your own feelings into your comment of people being lifted like “cargo”. If a woman wants to try and walk down and is able to by herself or with assistance that is fine. But in order to fulfill this mitzva one of the most important of all, I would think that a woman will be willing to overlook the feeling of “cargo” and concentrate on the beauty and sanctity of the moment and her joy and thankfulness at being able to be part of it.
It’s [really] wonderful news! But let’s also make certain that the Hydraulic Lifts and the controls are 100% safe from an Electrical point of view! (i.e. that they conform to ALL the safety Codes)! Because Electricity and Water are a dangerous mixture!!!
as a lubavitcher who looked in to the topic, i think that “Bor Al Gagai Bor” is a Chumra!
and in no way do we say that “Bor Lyad Bor” if CH”V Posul, we just want to be Mehader, to use only a Mikveh that has this Chumra!
and there should be no reason why someone who is not a lubavitcher cant use it, the Machlokes is whether one NEEDS such a Chumra or not, not CH”V if its kosher or not
Other Poskim view the chabad shita as a kula. Not a chumra. Just deal with it and move on. Lubavitchers do it your way and others get off their case.
A gutte voch
by Anonymous on 2008-09-06 at 7:29 AM
CAN I PLEASE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE BECAUSE 7:29 AM IS ON SHABBOS
Look I made the original comment and in no way was I degrading Chabad they have some fine people and some even finer nuts … just like all the other types of Jews out there.
In regards to whether its a Chumra or kosher or not no two Shita’s look at the issue the same way. Chabad sees the light one way and others see it differently. And BTW they are not the first in South Florida to offer a Lift, Perhaps the first in Broward.
I do have an issue with the fact that there is another Chabad Mikvah approximately one mile down the road that could have had the lift added for a much smaller expense. My issue here is with an unnecessary use of Momon Heckdesh
Either way the lift I have been told by many people with disabilities is not the right way to go, the preferred way would be to bold a ramp into the Mikvah and utilize a lightweight wheelchair with a winch to retract the individual from the Mikvah after they are done with their Tevilah.
You People… would only build it your own way…
No other Rebbes oppinion counts…….
L&L
i am visiting Melbourne Australia, and it was well after Motzei Shabbos, when i posted that comment.
i thank you for asking and not jumping to conclusions.
for that are interested in knowing…Bor al gabei Bor is the most fool proof and sensible way – the bor Hatvila is AlWAYS kosher.. no possibility of foregetting to do hashoko . All the Mikvaos built by Rabbi Posen in the UK have bor al gabei bor. The Divrei Chaim was not talking about todays set up where the distance between the two boros is a few inches and hence the different understanding in his shita.BTW it was the Rebbe Rashab who designed Bor al Gabei Bor.
What a lot of misinformation. There is NO OPINION that the Chabad shita of bor al gabei bor is no good. There are many opinions that it’s not NECESSARY, but nobody of any authority says it makes things worse.
There are those who claim that the Divrei Chaim passels it; they are MISREPRESENTING THE TRUTH. Anyone can see the Divrei Chaim inside, and the mikveh that he passels bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Chabad style of mikveh. Those who claim that he’s talking about a bor al gabei bor are simply either liars or illiterates. (By the way, Lubavitch holds very much of the Divrei Chaim, and if he had really passeled it Lubavitch would have changed the design to accomodate his opinion. They didn’t do so, because he says nothing of the kind.)
The entire modern machlokes against the bor al gabei bor is motivated entirely by hatred of Lubavitch; if it were some Litvak who came up with this hiddur everyone would applaud it, but because it’s Lubavitch a smear campaign has been got up by certain people, to convince others that there’s something wrong with it.
I always wondered about the people on this board…If any of them are bnei Torah by any strech…now it is clear the am aratzus
The mikva was a chidush of the Rebbe Rashab not the Tzemach Tzedek
The supposed argument about bor al gabei bor was between the Divrei Chaim and the Chsam Sofer
If you are m’ayin in the true shita of the divrei chaim you would see that even he would be maskim to the “lubavitch” bag”b since the is no pipe like in the chsam sofers mikva but it is ONE mikva with only a board in between
there are much more problems with zria and hashaka al hatzad then a Lubavitch mikvah (which would be clear to anyone who actually learned the dinim then stam rambled from hear say.
Lihair that when Rabbi Webberman from Miami built his mikva (which lhair has a bor al hatzad as well ..and the actuall mikva is rain water…) the Helmetzer made trouble that it doesn’t shtim with the divrei chaim…
Rabbi Webberman went to countless Rabbain including Reb Moshe Feinstin The Rabbanim of eida chareidis …The Satmar Rov himself even Ovadya Yosef who are maskim to bor al gabai bor of chabad…
(lihair that Chas v’sholom to say that it is pasul since there are tens of thousands who use the chabad mikvas world wide….as there are more chabad mikvas then any other across the u.s vechu..)