For Orthodox Jews, immersion in the mikveh—a ritual cleansing bath for women based on purity laws—is the cornerstone of family life. All Orthodox women must immerse in the mikveh before marriage, and Ashkenazi women must immerse every month after their menstrual cycle before sexual relations with their husbands may resume. But while the mikveh has been a tool for the exclusion of women, it has also, surprisingly, become an instrument of women’s power—a place men cannot enter and thus cannot control. Roused by her own experiences of immersion, for eleven years Varda Polak-Sahm patiently observed and interviewed Jewish women using the mikveh, gaining unprecedented access to the entirely hidden feminine culture and sensual atmosphere within traditional mikvehs. The result is a richly nuanced, uncensored look at an experience that is for some holy and for others coercive. The House of Secrets gives voice to women from all branches of Judaism as they open up about what the mikveh means to them; how it fits in with their attitudes toward religion; its effect on their marriages and families as well as on their sexual, physical, and spiritual self-perception and on their relationship with God.

Bet ha-setarim

Varda Polak-Sahm; translated from the Hebrew by Anne Hartstein Pace

Polak Sahm, Varda

Bluestreak

United States, United States of America

First Edition, 1st Printing, PS, 2009

Boston, Mass, Massachusetts, 2009

obscured text on back cover

Includes bibliographical references and index.

For Orthodox Jews, immersion in a ritual baththe mikvehis the cornerstone of family life and is central to Jewish womens practice of their faith. Yet women from across the Jewish spectrum frequent the mikveh, often for surprising personal reasons. Roused by her own immersion experience, for years Varda Polak-Sahm, a secular Jew, patiently observed and interviewed women at the mikveh, gaining unprecedented access to this hidden world. The House of Secrets offers a richly nuanced, uncensored look at an experience that is for some holy and for others coercive, ultimately illuminating the remarkable power of ritual immersion.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

Immersion in the mikveh--the ritual bath based on Jewish laws of purity--is the cornerstone of Orthodox family life. This book gives voice to women from all branches of Judaism as they open up about what immersion means to them; how it fits in with their attitudes toward religion; its effect on their marriages and families as well as on their sexual, physical, and spiritual self-perception, and on their relationship with God

An inside look at the experiences of Jewish women who use traditional mikvehs--ritual baths used to achieve purity--conveys these women's thoughts on what the mikveh means to them; how it fits in with their attitude toward religion; and its effect on their marriages and families, on their sexual, physical, and spiritual self-perception, and on their relationship with God.

xxiv, 248 p. ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index
The place -- The balaniyot -- A dose of impurity -- Blood and banishment -- Purity and sexuality -- Female rituals, sisterhood, and female authority -- Between a woman and God -- Between man and wife

2023-06-28