Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A ritual purification bath that is taken by observant Jews on certain occasions, as before marriage or after menstruation or childbirth, or when converting to Orthodox or Conservative Judaism.
- noun A building, room, or fixture in which this bath takes place.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
mikveh .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (Hebrew) a ritual purification and cleansing bath that Orthodox Jews take on certain occasions (as before Sabbath or after menstruation)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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One of the meanings of the Hebrew word mikvah is hope.
Fire, Water, and Hope Susan Palwick 2007
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One of the meanings of the Hebrew word mikvah is hope.
Archive 2007-01-01 Susan Palwick 2007
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In my class, we were discussing how the ritual of the mikvah is less statement on women's role in respect to men, and more an attempt to continue a faith so strongly tied to blood line.
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The mikvah is a bathhouse usually used by women for ritual cleansing.
FailedMessiah.com 2009
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The Bozeman suite includes a jetted bathtub and a shower, both of which a woman uses before entering the mikvah, which is tiled in shades of brown and could pass for an elegant bath in a multimillion-dollar home at Big Sky, the swank resort area between Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park.
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Previously, the court had denied Ben Haim's request to remove his electronic monitor so that he could immerse himself in a "mikvah," a traditional Jewish ritual bath.
Vos Iz Neias - (Yiddish:What's News?) admin 2010
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Also, it was really more of a "mikvah" than a "pool" but I think that's just semantics.
Yo, Yenta! 2009
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Non-Orthodox Jews are rediscovering the mikvah (ritual bath), and Reform Judaism's growing interest in ritual practice is particularly striking considering the movement's founding rejection of such "ideas entirely foreign to our present [1880s] mental and spiritual state."
Paul Golin: What Is the Biggest Divide in the Jewish Community? Paul Golin 2010
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Non-Orthodox Jews are rediscovering the mikvah (ritual bath), and Reform Judaism's growing interest in ritual practice is particularly striking considering the movement's founding rejection of such "ideas entirely foreign to our present [1880s] mental and spiritual state."
Paul Golin: What Is the Biggest Divide in the Jewish Community? Paul Golin 2010
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Non-Orthodox Jews are rediscovering the mikvah (ritual bath), and Reform Judaism's growing interest in ritual practice is particularly striking considering the movement's founding rejection of such "ideas entirely foreign to our present [1880s] mental and spiritual state."
Paul Golin: What Is the Biggest Divide in the Jewish Community? Paul Golin 2010
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