What all of the "religious" people such as yourself have forgotten is that Derech Eretz Kadma L'Torah, and unfortunatley the vast majority of you have forgotten that. What a shame, hiding behind your "righteousness" when in reality you are a polar opposite.

Right on Ben, I had a similar experience with my U.S. Orthodox Get certificate - it HAD to be approved by state employed Rabbinical "Court" -- this was a major factor in my choice to remain in America - (and I worked and even neutralized enemies) on behalf of my Eretz Israel.

This behaviour was disgraceful, but in fairness there is another side. It is wrong for unmarried women to perform tevillah to have sex outside marriage, which may be why the attendant wanted evidence she was about to get married. It is a Biblical prohibition for a man to have sex with a woman who has not been to mikveh, and some unmarried 'partners' also try to keep this rule. Same sex marriage may cause a rethink if both partners are men. Which one goes to mikveh?

When it comes to a Jewish marriage, if a woman wants to go to mikveh she should be encouraged. If the two witneses are 'kosher' the wedding is valid, with or without an Orthodox rabbi. The grave prohibition of having sex with a woman in her state of Niddah applies regardless of who 'performs' the wedding.

It's strictly a Jewish thing! Don't mix this up! It's not genuinely Orthodox but Jewish! And there are quite a number of cases when a Jewish woman goes to the Mikveh! There are not so many Mitzwot for women to keep and pureness is one of them! Preventing a bride from submerging in the Mikveh is a really really ugly thing! I would love to see these Rabbis to be held liable for their misconduct!

Agenda, anyone?

Last night I attended the simcha of a Haredi family member. We danced and ate with complete gender segregation. In the past my Haredi family has attended family simchas under masoriti auspices. No one was offended by mixed gender seating and they sat with immediate family and no one took offense when they did not dance. They honored my mother the family matriarch by their presence. When one trouble making secular cousin accused them of hypocrisy, my haredi cousin said," I knew my safta before I knew hashem and it was her shabbat dinners which introduced me to the love of Yiddishkeit. I did not ask my rabbis permission to be here."

No. 18, if "Ynet is crap," what are you doing wasting your time reading it? My 43 years in the news business showed me an interesting phenonenon: People who hated the newspaper and frequently sent vile letters and made vile calls to reporters tended to read the paper every day. Maybe that was because it was the only one in town -- or maybe they just enjoyed filling themselves with anger and hate. You have a choice of news websites. So why abuse yourself by suffering through one you consider "crap?" (That word, by the way, is a euphemism for human waste, so you must really be full of contempt and hate.) Ynet is an excellent source of Israeli news for those of us who are slaves to English.

People, know that you can ritually immerse yourself in the sea or a river to get it done ! Especially in Tel Aviv !Learn the biblical laws of Moses and you won't have to depend on such people anymore to follow our beautiful traditions .

water is acceptable. You can even do it in the Med. The fact that the ultra Orthodox have co-opted this practice is just one more reason women should not marry here and should force the government to quit letting religious morons harass women by giving them blank checks to discriminate against half the population of the country.

Forgive me for being perhaps a tadbit -- er -- personal, but access to a mikveh prior to a wedding also requires that the bride-to-be provide a record of her monthly cycle. I didn't read about that here, which means that I think the whole story, doubtless intended to be "heart-wrenching," is a complete fiction. Sorry. You do it right, or else don't bother. The bride could just as easily have dunked herself in the local swimming pool, for all going to the mikveh evidently meant to her.

The question why is my tax money being used to fund Mikvot which I don't use and that are used mainly by people who don't work and don't pay taxes.

Unfortunately people tend to think that he mikveh is just a fanatic religious act and not the basis of a marriage. The halacha is that one must have seven clean days where one checks herself for any stains. Apparently, this was not done. The attendant was only doing her job correctly and wanted the best possible for the bride. Unfortunately the bride was not properly prepared for this moment. The idea of the mikveh is not just dipping oneself . A marriage is a very holy event which if prepared for in the proper way is the basis for a very special and meaningful life. Unfortunately, in our world today, the holiness of this day is not recognized and not prepared for properly.

Oh, I beg to differ. I go to the mikveh on a regular basis. I also work and pay more in taxes annually than you will earn in a lifetime. In the meantime, please feel completely free to be as unclean as you like. You were saying, tref? Signed, Working JEWISH Taxpayer

If a women walks into a Mikveh and says she is married then she doesn't need a note but if she says she is single and getting married then she does? I got married in the states my wife did not need to bring a note. Something about this story does not make very much sense. Been frum all my life never heard of anything like this. I have heard of over barring Mikveh ladies that make you nuts and are over zealous about checking the women but nothing like this.

For all the readers out there always look at the the name of the journalist/author. This author is a manager for the conservative movement... Enough said.

*if* this story happened exactly as detailed here (which I sincerely doubt, since Hess has a vested interest, which he often shows, in bashing Orthodox Judaism), then the Mikveh attendant was rude. But that aside, there *are* set guidelines about family purity for women going to a Mikveh *for the very first time*, and it would have been simple to call the guiding Rabbi about this. A Mikveh is not just a public bath-house - it's a ritual cleansing pool. That pool, if used wrongly, can be defiled until *all* the water is replaced. This is why it's explicitly forbidden for women to enter the Mikveh if it hasn't been at least 7 days after their period ended for that month - because otherwise, the pool is defiled by the menstrual blood. See? Simple issue. Hence the Rabbinical explanation before the woman enters the Mikveh. The alternative is to harm *all* the women who want to be purified in the Mikveh. But that is not what Mr. Hess wants you to know. Mr. Hess wants you to see the rude, improper Orthodox Jew. He's the alternative, after all. But his way, overall, does nothing but bash everyone else. And as for people saying that this is a public building accessible to everyone, wrong. It's a religious service building. It isn't "owned by everyone" anymore than any *other* building built by public funds - each building built by public funds is only accessible for its set purpose. In this case, religious Jewish ritual purification for women.

First, i agree that the attendant should have been nicer to the bride. she was clearly not a senstive person, and generally speaking, it's a low paid position employing women who train for the task but don't necessarily have social graces. I do know of other mikve attendants who would have been very nice to this woman and made the experience beautiful. i went to the mikve party of one unreligious woman. it was wonderful. But, there are some "protocols" for a new bride to use the mikve, and there are specific reasons for this in order to maintain the sancity of the mikve and it's purpose. it is not simply a "public place" to be used at will. Rules are important in this regard, and it would be fair of Ynet to contact and publish this side of the story so this suffering new bride and others would understand. Nevertheless, i invite her and her husband to experience Shabbos by us any time!

So if discrimination is wrong I guess the Masorti movement now has no problem with Arab men using a women's mikva. After all it would be discrimination not to allow them in for not being Jewish or female. Israeli law obviously allows religious institutions to require religious rules be followed in their use. Jews can't run services in a mosque. Haredim can't just barge into Hebrew Union College and put up a Mechitza and single women can't use a mikva when they aren't married or planning to get married according to jewish law.

It's easy enough for a man to drop his bathing trunks to perform tevillah in the sea, but it's not so easy for a woman to fully undress in what is basically a public place. Rivers can carry germs and one needs to be careful.

It's easy for you to feel sorry because you have the Pacific Ocean in which to perform tevillah. Some of us aren't so lucky so we must depend on mikvaot.

First, how is the story written sounds sooo dramatic,and actually it is. Is dramatic because this poor bride tries to do something spiritual for the first time in her life,yet,doesn't know what she really needs to do to get that spiritual path. Is not just about a note from a Rabbi, is about knowing what are the prerequisites to go to the mikveh for the first time. This is what is dramatic about this story, this masortim don't give any messorah, just tradition, and that is like inflating a baloon so hard with air, that it will just pop hard by it self!!! I agree that there is a lot of politics,and hatred between religious and secular, but I also see how this called so Rabbis infect the heart of people like this bride, so they don't let them do things as they supposed to be done. Why her rabbi didn't explain her what she needed to do before? It wouldn't hurt for just once!! This is called hypocricy.

#12. Rabbi, the story indicates that she DIDN'T register. I had a similar experience years ago, but after a few phone calls by the attendant, was FINALLY permitted to immerse. I probably came across as frummer than the bride in this story and my explanation that we weren't going through the rabbanut because we wanted a good friend from NY as mesader kedushin was credible. But I see no reason whatsoever to doubt this story.

anywhere, anytime. It requires preparation, which the bride would have known about if she had merely asked the right people. In this case, conservative and reform rabbis would be the wrong people. For those concerned about using the ocean and modesty, women only use a mikvah for reasons of family purity at night. For all those concerned about tax payers and services, I'm an American taxpayer and anytime you want to get off our dole would be great. Until then, shut up about it.

There is no justification for mikvot to be funded by the public especially when run by primative, racist rabbis. I have always heard of brides being forced to go to them in order to marry though it is easy enough to bribe corrupt attendents get out of it. The should be privatized. Just like public swimming pools were privatized so should they. Want to join pay for a subsciption or individual entry. Different organizations will spring up and run them according to their chosen criteria.