And if it did happen, there is something missing here - no Rabbi, at all, in any way would prevent a woman from dipping in th emikvah on her wedding night. Second, if you have ever been to a mikvah, you know, they do not ask for a note of any kind for any reason. Women come and go and do what they need to do with the assitance of the attendant -no one is turned away.

Before my wedding I used a mikvah in Jerusalem and I was asked to provide a note that I had undergone lessons in family purity. Since that first time, I have never been asked for a note but that first time, most definitely!

to come up with such nonsense.

It's strictly an orthodox thing. If it were a public pool, Arabs and other non-Jews would be permitted to use it too. If a priest or anyone other than orthodox Rabbis perform your wedding, you have no business using the mikva. Use the ones the priest or reform rabbis use.

Regardless of who is marrying the woman, or if she is even getting married, standing in the way of a Jewish woman of fulfilling a mitzvah is beyond the pale. There was no question of her faith! There was no question of her intentions (Fulfilling the Mitzvah of tehara), she made arrangements in advance to use the facility. All you, your kind, and your sinaat chinam is doing is chasing Jews away from our faith! Your ignorant leaders bemoan the thinning of our people, the intermarriage, the loss of respect, the dying out of our faith and culture! Well you have no further to look for a cause than the mirror!

30 years ago, I simply stood my ground and refused to be coerced into goint through a ritual I didn't want or agree with. I simply told the (orthodox) rabbi that it was his choice to marry us or not. If not, would he prefer a civil ceremony abroad? I am amazed how many women who would never put up with other things, give in to this. Learn to say NO. Women have the right to choose if they want or don't want to use a mikva before marriage, go to family purity classes and practice/don't practice other religious ritutals or customs. The rabbinical establishment also chooses not to see the reality of many of today's secular brides who are already living with their future husbands.

I'm sure the concept of using public funds to create a public place for purification is a bit foreign to you. But that's what has happens. Use of tax money; money provided by citizens who happen to be Jews, Christians, and Muslims, built the Mikvah. This means ANY citizen should have a right to use it. But here's the limiting factor, they must use it as it is intended...for ritual purification. It is NOT a swimming pool. So should a Reform, Masaorti, or even a non-Jew be drawn to do a ritual of purification they should be allowed to do so. They not only should have the legal right, they should have the moral right to do so.

I have never heard such of baloney. This has to be a Mickey Mouse type story. I believe 1% of it!!!!

The woman's a lawyer but has not sued? I dont trust this story. Something is missing - like just where and how she was getting married.

that means by the tax shekels of every citizen of the State therefore the Mikvah while NOT a public pool is indeed a publically owned place. Further SHAME ON YOU what's up with that Baseless Hatred thing you have going there?

To no.4: I lived for many years in a neighborhood with lots of religious, even though I am not and the women who I knew that went to mikve regularly always told me to come with them or to go when I could. They say that any time you go, if you are Jewish, it is good! HUMILIATION is the reason I never went and don't ever want to: The women who have to do the mikveh many times have to be naked and "inspected" by some lady who works there. She checks nails and all. It is very humiliating!

It is so unfortunate the conservative and reform movements are making a heyday over ever jab they can make at the Orthodox. This article is totally misleading and full of factual errors. Whenever a couple registers to marry they are given clear instructions on the procedure. This woman wasn't caught off guard, even though she would like you to think that. Just like you don't just get in a car and start driving, so too you don't just walk into the mikveh without understanding the procedure. Just like we go to driving school, couples must attend classes and learn the proper procedure. If not, the mikveh doesn't work. They can go to a swimming pool if they want. But if they want a mikveh, learn how to do it. If you wouldn't walk into a mosque or church and act against decorum, so too please don't walk into a Jewish religious building and bash decorum.

Inspection of your body prior to immersion happens for EVERY women who goes into the Mikvah--Orthodox women too. It may seem humiliating to you because you don't understand fully what mikvah is all about.

She could have gone to the Sea and immerse there. it is Kosher and from what i can gather from the article perhaps it would be a lot more spiritual for her...

A certain Conservative synagogue over the years conducted many conversions, but dealing with mikvehs then all controlled by Orthodox groups was becoming unbearable. So when they went through a major renovation some 20 years ago, they built their own mikveh on the lower level.

this story is crap, YNET is crap, Sivan is crap and this story does not fit in the experiences of going to mikvahs in Canada or in Israel

I feel for this women...But, this is just another article Of "Bashing of Religion". You look me straight in my face, and tell me, this doesn't happen to you, every single time, you go before any office in Israel. A billion times, I would get the same BS question, "Did you bring......." So what is different in this article. She should have been told, that she would need a referral.....Even if I would ask a million times, what do I need when I come back to this office, to complete my mission, and still be lacking something. WHY!!! That is ISRAEL. Face it. So Hess, find another way to get a HEADLINE!!!!!

Tragically, the (truly immodest = arrogant) behaviour of a minority of the Haredim led to the destruction of our Holy Temple. The Rabbinate today, in Israel, is also often immodest in the worst way. They may believe they are doing the right thing, but they are not. They wield a lot of power over the most important things for Israeli citizens,( we who serve in the army, work and pay taxes, the lifeblood of the country) - their Jewish status, Weddings, Mikvehs, Conversions - and then snub our noses in 'holy' details. And then claim it is for "Torah". It is not "for Torah" The Torah and our Sages command us to behave compassionately and always considerate. This is the goal of the Torah. Not bureaucratic detail.

I can understand a women who is converting having to bring some note, but a Jewish woman who wishes to immerse herself in a mikva? This is crazy! Sounds like something either I didn't understand or something left out from this article.

You do not need a note from a rabbi to use the mikveh. There is something very wrong with this story.

tries to make it seem worst by noting the attendant said something besides Amen to the Kalah. Yes she gave her a Bracha to be successfull doing TeShuva so what? Obviously she needs it.!!!

The incitement against religious never ends with you smug secular lefties. F#$@ off.

nothing sounds true about this incident.

To all of you rushing with statements that a woman does not need a referral, I beg to correct you. I was married in Israel almost 30 years ago. The establishment gave me the run around even though I had letters from my Rabbi in the US (an orthodox rabbi), and only due to my strong character and challenging them did I stop the nonsense. When my bride went to the Mikveh, she most definitely had to present a referral and a note that she had under gone classes. Not being religious, but very traditionalist, the religious establishment alieanate me from the tradiditions which I kept, to the point of doing everything the opposite "Davka". Now I am abck in the US, where the religious establishment does not try to control your life. The truy religious people are those who accept you for who and what you are and do not try to coerce you into doing it their way.

Brother. The self-proclaimed control freak sees this religious ritual as just another ride at Disney land. She should have done what she would have done in any other circumstance, what my wife (also a lawyer) did: call and visit and ask a question or two. No fuss, no muss, no "trauma". What lawyer doesn't research before she enters a court?

All Jewish women who go to the Mikvah BEFORE their wedding need to bring a note. Married women who go to the Mikvah do not need this note.

B"H If Sivan cared about Jews & Judaism this story would have never been written. One. Two, if Sivan really cared about immersing herself in a mikva, she'd simply have a bath in the Mediterranean, 20 meters away from her chupa, under G-d's direct control, instead of bashing the hated "orthodox" read Jewish administration of ordinary community practices.