2,000-Year-Old Ritual Bath Found in Jerusalem

[Buster's Uncle]

2,000-Year-Old Ritual Bath Found in Jerusalem
By Megan Gannon, News Editor  | LiveScience.com – 1 hr 17 mins ago...

Skyview of the ritual bath

Archaeologists in Jerusalem say they've found a 2,000-year-old ritual bath with a sophisticated system to keep water pure, Israel's Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

The bath, known as a miqwe or mikveh, was found at a site in southwest Jerusalem's Kiryat Menachem quarter, and researchers say it had a unique water supply system. The miqwe collected rainwater from three basins, which were cut into the roof of the bath, and sent water into an underground immersion chamber through channels, explained IAA excavation director Benyamin Storchan.

Storchan said in a statement that this system was more complex than that of other baths of the same time period, which typically had a small rock-cut pool nearby that supplied rainwater to the underground chamber.

"It is interesting to note that the bath conforms to all of the laws of kashrut (the set of Jewish dietary laws), like collecting the water in it naturally without human contact, and ensuring that the water does not seep into the earth, which is why the bath was treated with a special kind of plaster," the archaeologist added.

The bath was associated with a settlement of the Second Temple period, and it apparently got a new life as a quarry after it went out of use. As recently as the 20th century, a hole was cut in the the immersion chamber's ceiling and it was used as a cistern.

Excavations at the site were taking place ahead of the construction of a new road. Development projects in Israel often expose remnants of the region's rich history. Ahead of the construction of a new Israeli railroad line to the city of Karmiel, researchers recently found a carving of a penis that's more than 6,000 years old. And animal and human figurines, some more than 9,000 years old, have been found at Tel Motza, a site being excavated to make room for the expansion of Highway 1, the main road connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

According to the Jerusalem district archaeologist, Amit Re'em, the community hopes to conserve the miqwe, and the IAA and developers are working to make the site available to the public.

http://news.yahoo.com/2-000-old-ritual-bath-found-jerusalem-121302315.html

[Yitzi]

A correction to the article: While "kashrut" (literally meaning "fitness" or "suitability" often refers to Jewish dietary laws, in this context that makes no sense, and he's instead referring to the laws of what constitutes a valid mikveh.

[Buster's Uncle]

Can you tell me about the ritual bath?  When I saw "bath" the headline, I rather assumed it was something Hellenic/Roman...

[Yitzi]

Can you tell me about the ritual bath?  When I saw "bath" the headline, I rather assumed it was something Hellenic/Roman...

Basically, there are certain things that cause ritual impurity, and certain actions (mostly involving the Temple service) that may not be performed while in a state of ritual impurity; immersion in a mikveh is the manner of removing this impurity in most cases.  The exact details do get somewhat complicated.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm not too busy...

[Yitzi]

I'm not too busy...

Yeah, but I am too busy for a fully in-depth thing (and I don't know all the details myself, and don't remember all the ones I have learned).  However, here's a somewhat shorter overview (all these rules apply to Jews only):

-The sources of ritual impurity are:
  -Human corpses,
  -the corpses of larger animals as well as of certain rodents and lizards,
  -the disease tzara'as (whose identity, if it even exists anymore, is not currently known; it involves discoloration and can attack skin, clothes, or houses)
  -Seminal emission, menstruation, and certain abnormal variants of the same.
  -Childbirth.
  -Certain parts of the Temple service.
The impurity can (depending on the specific source and details of the case) be transmitted via contact, carrying, being under the same roof, wearing clothes, or various forms of being supported by an object.  Sometimes, an object or person which has been made impure can make others impure as well.
-Most objects and people, having been made impure, can be made pure again; the process may be as simple as dunking in a mikveh, or may involve a more lengthy ritual that includes dunking in a mikveh.
-While impure, a person is restricted from entering the Temple grounds or eating consecrated food; depending on the case, there may be other restrictions such as going on the Temple mount, going inside a city, or having sex.
-The mikveh itself has a lot of complicated laws involving its construction; I don't even know all the details.

[Buster's Uncle]

Levi or Cohen?

[Yitzi]

Levi or Cohen?

Please elaborate your question?

[Buster's Uncle]

What they ask at the door of the synagogue?  I'm asking you, if that's not too forward of me.

[Yitzi]

What they ask at the door of the synagogue?  I'm asking you, if that's not too forward of me.

I'm neither.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm a goy, myself.