Halachot and Customs
Is It Permitted to Immerse in the Kinneret for Purity?
Can a Woman Immerse in the Kinneret Instead of a Mikveh?
Question
Hello,
My husband, the children, and I are traveling for a vacation to a kibbutz on the shore of the Kinneret, and it turns out that I need to immerse while we are there. The place is far from a built mikveh.
My question is whether it is permitted to immerse in the waters of the Kinneret in the dark, or whether I should delay the immersion until the next day, since by then we will already be back home.
Or is there something else you can suggest?
Thank you.
Answer
Greetings,
A woman must immerse specifically in a mikveh, and she is not permitted to immerse in the Kinneret or in any other sea for several reasons. Therefore, you should make every effort to immerse at the proper time in a mikveh, in accordance with halacha. If that does not work out, postpone the immersion until the next day.
Sources: See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah (siman 198, sections 33, 34, 40). Also see Sefer Taharat Mayim (klal 1, siman 3), Responsa Yabia Omer, part 1 (Yoreh Deah, siman 19, paragraphs 13-15), Responsa Yafeh Nof (siman 48), and Responsa Divrei Eliyahu, part 9 (siman 74).
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
