As students finalise their conversion status, meeting with the Beit Din is only the second-to-last step. The last step is immersion in a mikveh (plural mikva’ot), or ritual bath. This is the precursor to baptism, but the rabbis attached significant restrictions in determining what is and isn’t an acceptable mikveh. Most important is that there be a percentage of water from a freshwater source. Jewish communities have constructed mikva’ot around the world, but communities also often need to get creative about how and where converts to Judaism can immerse in order to complete the process. For example, my practice in Adelaide is to bring my conversion students to the ocean very early in the morning or at twilight, when they can immerse in relative privacy and safety. That’s especially true here in Indonesia, where there are only two mikva’ot that I know of. Both are built into the walls of the synagogue in Timika in West Papua. That building is still not finished, but the mikva’ot were constructed early, as purity is a high value in Papuan culture as well as in traditional Jewish culture. The Timika community built a mikveh for men and a separate mikveh for women, and we’ve made use of them both times we’ve been to visit. Our other mikvah experiences have been varied and not always pleasant. In Jakarta, we brought the conversion candidates to the crowded city beach and took our chances with whatever might have been swimming in the ocean with us. If at least some of Jakarta’s 25 million people dispose of their waste in the ocean, that water is far from clean. Thankfully, we all emerged none the worse for wear. We had a different experience in Magelang in central Java. Our local hosts drove us to the municipal water distribution facility, which is fed by mountain springs flowing towards the city. There are two small swimming pools there, one for men and a separate one for women. It was not in any way flashy or elegant, but the water was clean, and we had privacy among us women. However, I can now boldly proclaim that the very best place for a mikveh, not only here in Indonesia but anywhere in the world, is in the Maluku Islands a short drive from the city of Ambon. We convened here on Wednesday (which happened to be Christmas) to welcome three adults, one girl, and one baby to the Jewish people. One of our local hosts Shmuel David, who himself was among the new Jews, chose as our meeting place a beach that his family visits often. To access the beach, it’s necessary to pay a modest fee to the chain-smoking staff member, sign in, and then negotiate quite a steep staircase down from the road. I was more than a little concerned for Moshe’s wife Vera, who bravely carried their 10-month-old baby Aharon down the stairs. We took a minute to admire this lovely place, and then we were led up another set of stairs to a magical cove walled in on all sides by rock walls. This was the place Shmuel David had chosen for the mikveh, and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting. Shelley and I led the women through the mikveh procedure first. I stripped down to my bathing suit and jumped into the water to accompany them through this significant moment in their lives. The water was crystal clear and just a little cooler than the air, and I was instantly in a very happy place indeed. When our nine year-old conversion candidate proved reluctant to put her whole self under the water as required, I suggested we submerge together so that she would have company. It was nice for her but an absolute delight for me! When all three had immersed with the appropriate blessings, they dried out as best they could, and we made our way back up so that the men could take their turn. The beach itself is just beautiful. Trees grow nearly right up to the water, so I had the unique pleasure of listening to the gentle lapping of the water while enjoying the shade. The beach is covered with a layer of pebbles and stones rather than sand, and so the surface can be very hard on the feet. But that takes away only a little bit from the serenity and joy of the place. The water is clear and warm—something that we never get to experience in Adelaide, which is too close to Antarctica for warm water even on the hottest day of summer. The nine-year-old girl who had been so reluctant to put her head under the water earlier now refused to leave the ocean. As she bobbed up and down, I noted that she was swimming completely clothed, including heavy jeans. I looked up and down the beach and saw that the women were all doing the same. A question to Vera confirmed my suspicions: women here were expected to stay modest while in the water. So I waded out in the polyester dress I had on over my bathing suit, and enjoyed the water alongside everyone else. David and Shelley swam out and discovered that there was a coral reef a distance from the shore. They came back brimming with excitement for the beauty they had seen. Unfortunately, I’m not a strong swimmer at the best of times, and it had been years since I really tried swimming any distance. I let them tell the stories and listened enviously.
Our hosts brought out a beautiful picnic, and we enjoyed a number of hours relaxing. I could not have asked for a more perfect day, nor for a better place to welcome new Jews to our tradition.
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Rabbi Shoshana KaminskyI've been the rabbi of Beit Shalom Progressive Synagogue in Adelaide since 2006. As part of the Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australia, New Zealand and Asia, I'm now on my fifth trip to Indonesia to teach, pray and celebrate with the communities here. Archives
July 2022
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