Bringing Mikvah Histories Forward: One of two reflexive sessions on the increasing interest in mikvah among individuals, communities, and academics Part 1

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

Curiosity and engagement with mikvah has been increasing since the mid-twentieth century, and expanding beyond Orthodox Jewish communities since the late 1990s. Since the 1990’s, academic interest has grown in mikvah-adjacent subjects: Jewish concepts of body, purity and Niddah observance. Very recently academic scholarship on mikvah has begun expanding upon earlier historical descriptions and questioning established assumptions about mikvah. This pair of transdisciplinary roundtables surveys current research on historical and contemporary issues surrounding mikvah with the collective goal of revealing the complexity of contemporary mikvah interest at individual, communal, regional, and even national levels. Collectively these roundtables demonstrate the richness of mikvah as a subject for exploring Jewish (and by contrast non-Jewish) concepts of temporality, social identities and relationships, and even practice politics of embodiment and body-politics.

Alexandra Martin and Jamie Luria reflect on issues surrounding the preservation and presentation of archeological mikvaot in the contexts of Strawbery Banke Museum in New Hampshire, Spain, Sicily, and Israel. Anabella Esperanza reflects of the lessons from the past for the present through her historical work on early modern Ottoman Jewish mikvah practices. All three scholars’ work model the value of locally specific studies of Niddah and mikvah that speak to larger patterns and analytic themes that exceed Jewish communities.

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish History in Europe, Asia, Israel, and Other Communities

Moderator

• Laura Leibman, Princeton University - Program in American Studies

Discussants

• Jaimie Luria, Cornell University

• Alexandra Martin, Strawbery Banke Museum

• Anabella Esperanza, Tel Aviv University

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 09