Mikveh and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's marble sculpture 'Ugolino and his Sons', Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's marble sculpture 'Ugolino and his Sons', Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
{{Jews and Judaism}}
[[Image:Jean-Baptiste_Carpeaux_La_Danse.jpg|thumb|right|400px|La Danse (The Dance), Opera Garnier in Paris]]
“'Mikvah”' (or “'mikveh”') ({{Hebrew Name|מִקְוָה|Miqva|Miqwāh}} ; plural: “mikva'ot” or “mikvot”) is a specially constructed pool of water used for total immersion in a [[ritual purification|purification]] ceremony within [[Judaism]]. Its main uses nowadays are
{{Commonscat}}
*by [[Jew]]ish women to achieve ritual purity after [[menstruation]] or [[childbirth]]
*by Jewish men to achieve ritual purity (see details below)
*as part of a traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism
*for utensils used for food


'''Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux''' ([[May 11]], [[1827]], [[Valenciennes]] –[[October 12]], [[1875]], [[Courbevoie]]) was a French sculptor and painter. His early studies were under [[François Rude]]. Carpeaux won the [[Prix de Rome]] in [[1854]], and moving to [[Rome]] to find inspiration, he there studied the works of [[Michelangelo Buonarroti|Michelangelo]], [[Donatello]] and [[Andrea del Verrocchio|Verrocchio]]. Staying in Rome from [[1854]] to [[1861]], he obtained a taste for movement and spontaneity, which he joined with the great principles of [[baroque art]]. In [[1861]] he made a bust of [[Mathilde Bonaparte|Princess Mathilde]], and this later brought him several commissions from [[Napoleon III]]. He worked at the pavilion of [[Flora (goddess)|Flora]], and the [[Opéra Garnier]]. His group La Danse (the Dance, [[1869]]), situated on the right side of the façade, was criticised as an offence to common decency.
A mikvah is central to an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community. A Jewish community is traditionally required to build a mikvah (for women) before they build a synagogue, and to sell a [[Torah]] scroll to build one if need be.


He never managed to finish his last work, the famous Fountain of the Four Parts of the Earth, on the Place Camille Jullian. He did finish the terrestrial globe, supported by the four figures of [[Asia]], [[Europe]], [[North America|America]] and [[Africa]], and it was [[Emmanuel Frémiet]] who completed the work by adding the eight leaping horses, the tortoises and the dolphins of the basin.
==Requirements of a mikvah==
The rules regarding the construction of a mikvah are complicated. The immersion itself must take place in a pool which is
*a ““ma'yan”“ (spring), or a well of naturally occurring water, containing a minimum quantity of water, or
*connected in halachically prescribed manner to one of the above
Rainwater, certain springs, wells, rivers, lakes and oceans can therefore be used for the pool, as can snow and other naturally precipitated frozen water. There are also requirements for the manner in which the water can be stored and transported to a pool. In general, water must flow naturally e.g. by gravity or pressure gradient (it cannot be pumped or carried). As a result, tap water cannot be used for the “natural water” component of a mikvah, and a special construction is required. Most contemporary mikvas are indoor constructions involving rain water collected in a cistern (“bor”) with a duct to a regular bathing pool so that it can flow by gravity into the basin. Once the minimum required amount of “natural water” is added, regular [[tap water]] can be used to augment the amount, as long as the mikvah has a connection to the pool of rain water. This latter formula is often used so that the water used for immersion can be frequently changed. The duct can be closed to empty and replace the regular water without having to replace the rain water. A mikvah must contain a minimum of forty “[[seah]]” of water, approximately 150 U.S. [[gallon]]s or 575 liters.<ref>Using the stringent ruling of the [[Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz]] of one seah=14.3 liter</ref> If certain precautions are observed, the water in a mikvah can be heated. The environment of a contemporary mikvah is often not unlike a spa -- though some are much simpler.


== Sculptures by Carpeaux ==
==History==
Traditionally, the mikvah was used by both men and women for various purposes. Everyone was required to immerse in a mikvah after coming into contact with the dead or other ritually unclean (“[[tamei]]”) objects before they could be allowed to eat holy food or enter the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] (although to be purified from contact with the dead, sprinkling with the ashes of the [[Red Heifer]] was needed prior to immersion in a mikvah). [[Tzaraath|Metzoroim]] (individuals affected with a certain skin condition that is unknown today) were required to immerse as part of the ritual followed upon healing, [[Kohen|priests]] were required to immerse before performing certain [[Temple]] rites or before eating [[Terumah]], men were required to immerse after having a [[nocturnal emission]], and women after giving birth or their period of [[Niddah]] following menstruation.


* Ugolin et ses fils - [[Ugolino della Gherardesca|Ugolino]] and his Sons (1861, in the permanent collection of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])[[http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/photo_ME0000009025.html]] with versions in other museums including the [[Musée d'Orsay]]
[[Ezra]] enacted an ordinance that, following a seminal emission, one must immerse in a mikva before studying Torah or praying. This is known as “tevilath Ezra” (“the immersion enacted by [[Ezra]]”). Although this enactment was later nullified by the Sages, [[Haredi Jews]] nowadays still keep this enactment). In addition [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jews]] immerse themselves in the mikva each morning before prayers.
* The Dance (commissioned for the [[Palais Garnier|Opera Garnier]])
* Jeune pêcheur à la coquille - [[Naples|Neapolitan]] Fisherboy - in the [[Louvre]], [[Paris]] [[http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/photo_ME0000034255.html]]
* Girl with Shell
* [[Antoine Watteau]] monument, [[Valenciennes]]


==Neapolitan Fisherboy==
Ancient mikvahs dating from Temple times (predating 70 CE) can be found throughout the [[Land of Israel]], as well as in the [[diaspora]].


Carpeaux submitted a plaster version of ''Pêcheur napolitain à la coquille'', the Neapolitan Fisherboy, to the [[French Academy]] while a student in [[Rome]]. He carved the marble version several years later, showing it in the Salon exhibition of 1863. It was purchased for [[Napoleon III]]'s empress, [[Eugénie de Montijo|Eugènie]]. The statue of the young smiling boy was very popular, and Carpeaux created a number of reproductions and variations in marble and bronze. There is a copy, for instance, in the Samuel H. Kress Collection in the [[National Gallery of Art]] in [[Washington D.C.]]
==Present situation==
[[Image:Judenbad Speyer 6 View from the first room down.jpg|thumb|300px|Pool of a medieval mikvah in [[Speyer]], dating back to 1128 .]]
[[Image:Judenbad Speyer 3 First Room view.jpg|thumb|300px|First room in the medieval mikvah in Speyer.]]


Some years later, he carved the Girl with a Shell, a very similar study.
===Orthodox Judaism===
Among [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]], women are required to immerse in a mikvah after [[childbirth]] or [[menstruation]] before they have intercourse with their husbands. Women immerse themselves before the day of their wedding in order to be ritually pure for their wedding night. Converts to Orthodox Judaism, whether male or female, are required to immerse in a mikvah. Men are required to immerse in a Mikvah before [[Yom Kippur]]. Some men, especially in [[Hasidic Judaism|hasidic]] circles, also use the mikvah regularly, before certain [[Jewish holidays]], before [[Shabbat]], on the morning of Shabbat and Jewish Holydays or even daily. Orthodox Judaism also requires the immersion in a kosher mikvah of vessels and utensils used for food, when bought by a Jew from a gentile. In some Orthodox communities, men may immerse before their wedding.


Carpeaux sought real life subjects in the streets and broke with the classical tradition. The Neapolitan Fisherboy's body is carved in intimate detail and shows an intricately balanced pose. Carpeaux claimed that he based the Neapolitan Fisherboy on a boy he had seen during a trip to [[Naples]].
In accordance with Orthodox rules of [[tzniut]] (modesty), men and women are required to have separate mikvah facilities in separate locations, or have different designated times to use the same mikvah.


==External links==
For certain purposes in Orthodox Judaism, both men and women are required to wash or immerse in water which does not have to meet the “living water” requirements of a Mikvah. This includes a requirement of hand-washing both in the morning and before meals. Certain other practices involving washing or immersion, such as immersion after a [[Semen|seminal emission]] (in the minority of communities which practice it), do not require “living water” and the water can be tap water.


*[http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=rs_display_res&critere=jean+baptiste+carpeaux&operator=AND&nbToDisplay=5&langue=fr A page on the official Louvre site giving access to some of Carpeaux's works (French language only)]
A Jewish [[funeral home]] may have a mikvah for immersing a body during the purification (“tahara”) procedure before burial.
*[http://www.insecula.com/contact/A005511_oeuvre_1.html A page from insecula.com listing more views of Carpeaux's works (also in French;] it may be necessary to close an advertising window to view this page)
*[http://www.studiolo.org/MMA-Ugolino/Ugolino.htm A page analysing Carpeaux's ''Ugolino'', with numerous illustrations]


[[Category:French sculptors|Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste]]
Those Orthodox authorities which permit Jews to ascend the [[Temple Mount]] (most forbid it) require both men and women to immerse in a mikvah prior to ascension. The contemporary Temple Mount remains a unique circumstance in which all the classical immersion requirements (including following a seminal emission) are in contemporary effect, and authorities recommend always immersing prior to ascension just in case.
[[Category:1827 births|Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste]]
[[Category:1875 deaths|Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste]]


[[de:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]
===Conservative Judaism===
[[fr:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]
[[Conservative Judaism]] still requires immersion in a mikvah meeting the same requirements, and used under most of the circumstances as Orthodox Judaism. [[Issac Klein]]'s “A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice” contains chapters on the laws of women's immersion following menstruation and childbirth. Until the late 1990s, these practices largely fell into disuse among Conservative Jews, although immersion continues to be practiced as part of conversion.
[[nl:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]

[[pl:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]
The requirement of married women immersing in a mikvah after the [[Niddah]] period was recently reaffirmed in two recent [[Conservative responsa]]. Both reaffirmed that Conservative Judaism prohibits sexual intercourse when a woman is in niddah and requires immersion in a mikvah before intercourse may be resumed. <ref>[http://www.rabbinevins.org/HHH%20Dorff%20Nevins%20Reisner%20Final2.pdf Elliott N. Dorff, Daniel Evans, and Avram Reisner. “Homosexuality, Human Dignity, and Halakha.” Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006]</ref> <ref>{{cite web| title=Joel Roth, Homosexuality Revisited, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006| url=http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Roth_Final.pdf| accessdate=2007-01-23}}</ref>.
[[pt:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]

[[zh:让-巴蒂斯·卡尔波]]
In recent years, however, there has been some evidence of a resurgence of interest in the mikveh and its uses in some Conservative circles. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Conservative Judaism does not require immersion of utensils, immersion by men before Yom Kippur, or immersion after a seminal emission.

===Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism===
{{Unreferenced|section|date=May 2007}}
[[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Reconstructionist Judaism]] have abolished all or almost all general uses of a mikvah, and historically have used one only to perform conversions. In recent years there has been interest in reconstructing the Mikveh and finding contemporary uses for it in addition to the traditional ones. Some Reform rabbis do not use a mikvah to perform conversions, and mikvahs used for reform conversions do not necessarily meet the traditional requirements of mikvahs used in Orthodox and Conservative practice.

== Reasons for immersion ==
Except as noted, “Tevilah” (immersion in a mikvah) is required in contemporary [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] practice in the following circumstances
*Women (Obligatory in [[Orthodox Judaism]] and [[Conservative Judaism]])
**Following the [[Niddah]] period after menstruation, prior to resuming [[sexual intercourse|marital relations]]
**Following the [[Niddah]] period after childbirth, prior to resuming marital relations
**By a bride, before the day of her wedding
*Men
**Before a [[Jewish holidays|Holy Day]] according to the [[minhag|custom]] of some communities
**Every day (including [[Shabbat]] and [[Jewish holidays|Holidays]]), under some [[hasidic]] and [[Haredi Judaism|haredi]] [[minhag|customs]]
**Weekly before [[Shabbat]], under some [[Hasidic]] and [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] customs
**By a bridegroom, on the day of his wedding
**The next evening after a nocturnal emission (in some communities. Note that an actual mikvah is not required)
*Either gender
**Before Yom Kippur (obligatory for men in [[Orthodox Judaism]])
**As part of a [[conversion to Judaism]] (obligatory in [[Orthodox Judaism]] and [[Conservative Judaism]])
**immersion of utensils acquired from a gentile (obligatory in [[Orthodox Judaism]])
**Before ascending the [[Temple Mount]] (among authorities which allow ascension).

== Requirements for immersion ==
[[Image:TBE-mikveh.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A contemporary mikveh at [[Temple Beth-El (Birmingham, Alabama)|Temple Beth-El in Birmingham, Alabama]].]]
“Tevilah,” immersion in a mikvah, has a set of requirements to be valid under traditional [[Halakha|Jewish law]]. Among these requirements, the water must cover the entire body. To make sure that water literally touches every part of the body, all clothing, jewelry, and even bandages must be removed. In contemporary mikvaot for women, there is always an experienced attendant, commonly called the “mikvah lady,” to watch the immersion and ensure that the woman has been entirely covered in water.

===Hair===
There is some debate about the requirements for hair. In order to make sure that the water touches all parts of the hair, one cannot wear braids. The debate comes as to whether the hair must be combed straight so that there are no knots. Typically, [[Sephardic Jews]] are ethnically darker, with curly hair. This can be almost wiry, and difficult to comb. [[Black Jews]] also take issue with this primarily [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] stance, particularly when it comes to [[dreadlocks]]. One must consult their rabbi to issue a “psak” (ruling). This ruling must be obtained in all instances, because it may vary even within a community, based on the person's hair.

For example, a possible “psak” in favor of dreadlocks:
*a dreadlock is not actually braided, but is rather knotted,
*the hair may be loose enough (depending upon the person) to become thouroughly saturated with no question as to whether all the hair got wet, particularly if the person showered first,
*it would cause pain to comb through the hair naturally,
*According to “Kitzur Dinei Taharah; A Digest of the Niddah Laws Following the Rulings of the [[Rebbe]]s of [[Chabad-Lubavitch|Chabad]],” “Even one knotted hair, whether knotted in itself or with another hair, is considered a “chatzitzah” [intervening substance] if the woman is “makpid” [particular] on it. When the majority of her hairs are individually knotted, it is a “chatzitzah” even if she is not “makpid”. If, however, the knot is formed from two or more hairs, then whether the two hairs are knotted around themselves or with two other hairs, it is not a “chatzitzah” (since they do not stick so tightly, water can enter between them.”<ref name=Kitzure>Kolel Menachem, “Kitzur Dinei Taharah: A Digest of the Niddah Laws Following the Rulings of the Rebbes of Chabad” (Brooklyn, New York: Kehot Publication Society, 2005).</ref>

== Other uses of the term Mikvah ==
===The prophet Jeremiah===
The Hebrew word “mikveh” also means “hope”. The prophet [[Jeremiah]] repeatedly refers to this dual meaning in using rain, living water, and the mikvah itself as a symbol of hope in and from God:

:Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? Art not Thou He, O LORD our God, and do we not wait (“nikveh”) for Thee? For Thou hast made all these things. ([[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] 14:22)

:Thou hope (“mikvah”) of Israel, the LORD! All that forsake Thee shall be ashamed; they that depart from Thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
:Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for Thou art my praise. ([[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] 17:13-14)

===Rabbi Akiva===
Mishna tractate [[Yoma]] ends its discussion of the holiday of [[Yom Kippur]], the day of Atonement, with a section on repentance and atonement, culminating with a quote from [[Rabbi Akiva]] further comparing the relationship between God and Israel with immersion in a Mikvah:

:Rabbi Akiva said: Fortunate are you, O Israel. Before whom do you cleanse yourselves? Who cleanses you? Your Father in Heaven. As it is said: I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be cleansed. ([[Ezekiel]] 36:25) And it is said: The Mikvah of Israel is God (Jeremiah 17:13). Just as a mikvah purifies the contaminated, so does the Holy One, Blessed is He, purify Israel. ([[Mishna]] [[Yoma]], “Yoma” 85b)

===In a house of mourning===
It is customary, in a traditional Jewish [[Bereavement in Judaism|house of mourning]] following a funeral, to read the seventh chapter of the [[Mishnah]] Tractate [[Mikvaot]] on the laws of the mikvah, which begins with:

:There are substances that can complete a mikvah, and do not invalidate [it], [others] invalidate and do not complete [it], [others] neither complete nor invalidate [it]. These [substances] complete and do not invalidate: snow, hail, frost, ice, salt, and mud that can be poured. [[Rabbi Akiva]] said, It used to be that [[Rabbi Yishmael]] would argue with me, saying: Snow cannot complete a mikvah. But the men of Meidva testified in his name, that he said to them, “Go out and bring snow and make a mikvah from the beginning.” [[Rabbi Nuri ben Yochanan]] says: Stones of hail are like water.”

The fact of [[Halakha|Jewish law]] that “living water” retains its life while in the apparently lifeless frozen state, and will be living water again, is remembered by Jews who adhere to the [[Thirteen Principles of Faith|traditional Jewish belief]] in [[resurrection]].

== See also ==
*[[Niddah]]
*[[Ritual washing in Judaism]]
*[[Conversion to Judaism]]
*[[Ablution]]

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Mikvah}}
*[http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=1541 “The Mikvah” - by Rivkah Slonim]
*[http://www.mikvah.org/directory Global Mikvah Directory - by Mikvah.org]
*[http://home.mayimrabim.com:443/ Mayim Rabim website and message boards - women's reflections on mikvah and taharat hamishpacha]

== Footnotes ==
<references/>

== References ==
* “A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice,” Isaac Klein, JTS Press, New York, 1992
* “Menstrual Purity: Rabbinic and Christian Reconstructions of Biblical Gender,” [[Charlotte Fonrobert]], Stanford University Press, 2000
* “Kitzur Dinei Taharah: A Digest of the Niddah Laws Following the Rulings of the Rebbes of Chabad,” Kolel Menachem, Kehot Publication Society, Brooklyn, New York, 2005

<br/>{{Jewish life}}

<!--Categories-->
[[Category:Ritual purification]]
[[Category:Jewish law and rituals]]
[[Category:Jewish marital law]]
[[Category:Hebrew words and phrases]]
[[Category:Bathing]]

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[[cs:Židovská rituální lázeň]]
[[da:Mikvé]]
[[de:Mikwe]]
[[et:Mikva]]
[[fr:Mikvé]]
[[he:מקווה]]
[[nl:Mikwe]]
[[ja:ミクワー]]
[[nn:Mikvé]]
[[pl:Mykwa]]
[[pt:Mikvá]]
[[ru:Микве]]
[[sk:Mikve]]
[[fi:Mikve]]
[[sv:Mikve]]
[[tr:Mikve]]
[[yi:מקווה]]

Revision as of 01:07, 19 June 2007

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's marble sculpture 'Ugolino and his Sons', Metropolitan Museum of Art
La Danse (The Dance), Opera Garnier in Paris
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (May 11, 1827, Valenciennes –October 12, 1875, Courbevoie) was a French sculptor and painter. His early studies were under François Rude. Carpeaux won the Prix de Rome in 1854, and moving to Rome to find inspiration, he there studied the works of Michelangelo, Donatello and Verrocchio. Staying in Rome from 1854 to 1861, he obtained a taste for movement and spontaneity, which he joined with the great principles of baroque art. In 1861 he made a bust of Princess Mathilde, and this later brought him several commissions from Napoleon III. He worked at the pavilion of Flora, and the Opéra Garnier. His group La Danse (the Dance, 1869), situated on the right side of the façade, was criticised as an offence to common decency.

He never managed to finish his last work, the famous Fountain of the Four Parts of the Earth, on the Place Camille Jullian. He did finish the terrestrial globe, supported by the four figures of Asia, Europe, America and Africa, and it was Emmanuel Frémiet who completed the work by adding the eight leaping horses, the tortoises and the dolphins of the basin.

Sculptures by Carpeaux

Neapolitan Fisherboy

Carpeaux submitted a plaster version of Pêcheur napolitain à la coquille, the Neapolitan Fisherboy, to the French Academy while a student in Rome. He carved the marble version several years later, showing it in the Salon exhibition of 1863. It was purchased for Napoleon III's empress, Eugènie. The statue of the young smiling boy was very popular, and Carpeaux created a number of reproductions and variations in marble and bronze. There is a copy, for instance, in the Samuel H. Kress Collection in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Some years later, he carved the Girl with a Shell, a very similar study.

Carpeaux sought real life subjects in the streets and broke with the classical tradition. The Neapolitan Fisherboy's body is carved in intimate detail and shows an intricately balanced pose. Carpeaux claimed that he based the Neapolitan Fisherboy on a boy he had seen during a trip to Naples.

External links

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