The Mikvah at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh officially reopened this weekend after more than a year of hard work by Mikvat Shalom, the nonprofit group that was formed to rejuvinate it. Read the Portland Press Herald article.
The Mikvah was a bone of contention between different interest groups in Portland: the women who need it for their monthly cleansing, the people who need it for conversions, the families who need it for kaschering pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and the men who use it for cleansing prior to Shabbat and other holidays and festivals during the year.
My involvement in the Mikvah was a practical one. When the filters failed, I did my best to get them back in service. When we discovered a water routing problem in the backfeed system, I installed valves and pipes to correct it. When other maintenance tasks arose, I would lend a hand where practical to bring the Mikvah back to service. When the air handling system failed and mold overtook the building, it was clear that a more dedicated approach to maintenance was required.
Mikvat Shalom was organized by Marilyn Fried, then the Executive Director of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, on whose land the Mikvah sits. She saw the decrepit state of the Mikvah as an opportunity to build community among the competing interests. Representatives from Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, Congregation Bet Ha'am, Temple Beth El, and Chabad of Maine as well as unaffiliated Jews from the community came together to take on the challenge of restoring the Mikvah and creating a center of renewal and cooperation.
During the dedication, Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld remarked that he did not know of another Mikvah that had the support of the entire Jewish community. I am proud of our community for having come together to achieve this goal and having created a vibrant and welcoming Mikvah.
