Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Mikveh worries: the attendant and meeting acquaintances

15 December, 2024

Question:

Hi! I’m nervous about going to mikvah, I don’t want to see anyone I know and don’t want the mikvah attendant to see body parts I’m not comfortable with her seeing. What would you suggest I do?


Answer:

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We appreciate the sensitive nature of this question.

It is perfectly normal to prefer not to encounter acquaintances at the mikveh. However, there is no way to guarantee not seeing anyone one knows.

You can rest assured, though, that any woman you might see at the mikveh would be there either to facilitate other women’s immersions or to immerse herself. In either case, they would be the first people to be understanding that other women sometimes immerse and would like their privacy to be respected. While some women do socialize at the mikveh, it is also widely understood that other women at the mikveh are not there to socialize, so it is not considered rude to keep to oneself.

It is also perfectly normal not to feel comfortable with having one’s body exposed in the presence of the mikveh attendant. To minimize this, you can ask the mikveh attendant to turn around until after you have entered the water (with just your head out) and only then to turn to see you dip. In this way, the water will obscure most of your body, and she will just be focused on the immersion itself. You can also request that she exit the room immediately after you dip. Here, too, it helps to remember that the mikveh attendant is there to facilitate performance of a mitzva for many woman, and takes no personal interest in seeing your body.

We hope that these ideas help. If you have more specific concerns that remain unaddressed, please don’t hesitate to follow up with them.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.


This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional. For further questions or comments:  The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.

Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.

Accessibility Toolbar