Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel — The Middle East (West Asia)

Rules for Immersion

— The Ophel Mikveh Trail —

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, March 13, 2023

1. Rules for Immersion Marker

Inscription.
Miqva'ot are installations unique to the Jewish people. Their religious purpose is to cleanse the individual from ritual impurity, and they were built in keeping with the principles of Jewish religious regulations (Halakha). This rock-cut installation was a public mikveh, in which pilgrims immersed before they ascended through the Hulda Gates to the Temple Mount. After the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), Jews were banned from living in Jerusalem for centuries and its non-Jewish inhabitants reused the abandoned miqva'ot as cisterns, storerooms and quarries, among other uses. The steps of this mikveh were cut into, turning it, too, into a cistern.

(Hebrew text not transcribed)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Religion & Religious Structures.

Location. 31° 46.516′ N, 35° 14.171′ E. Marker is in Jerusalem, Jerusalem District. It can be reached from Derekh Ha'ophel Street. Touch for map. Touch for directions.

Regionally, it is in Asia,

specifically in West Asia,

in the Middle East,

in The Levant,

on the Red Sea,

in a coastal Mediterranean country,

and in the Western World.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Byzantine Empire,

the Ottoman Empire,

a British Mandate,

and the Roman Empire.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Buildings along the fortification line (here, next to this marker); "Neverless the fountain or a cistern wherein is a gathering of water shall be clean" (within shouting distance of this marker); Rock-hewn cistern with hydraulic plaster (within shouting

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distance of this marker); A Stepped Ritual Bath (within shouting distance of this marker); The Ophel Mikveh Trail (within shouting distance of this marker); The Stepped Mikveh (within shouting distance of this marker); Household Vessels - purity and impurity (within shouting distance of this marker); Religious Rules of Ritual Purification Baths (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Jerusalem.

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, March 13, 2023

2. Rules for Immersion Marker

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, March 13, 2023

3. Rules for Immersion Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on April 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 5, 2023, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 90 times since then and 5 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on April 5, 2023, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.