Ritual Bath: Judenhof Speyer

After the conclusion of the symposium in Mainz (see 1, 2 December), we made a visit to the ancient and interesting town of Speyer, to the south of Worms and Darmstadt.

This town was once the home of a sizeable Jewish community, and we spent a long time in the Jewish Museum and Judenhof, which contains the remains of the ancient synagogue. The first recorded Jewish community emerged in Speyer at the instigation of the bishop. It is quite possible that Jews already settled in Speyer in pre-Christian times. In 1084 Bishop Rudiger Huzmann invited Jews to move to Speyer and settled them in the former suburb of Altspeyer (the area of today's train station) which he had surrounded by a wall for their protection. Along with this invitation the bishop granted the Jews rights and privileges which went well beyond contemporary practice. They were confirmed by Emperor Henry IV in 1090 and became an example for Jews' privileges in many cities of the empire. A Jewish quarter soon also developed next to the bishops’ district near the cathedral. Its centre, the Jews’ Court (Judenhof), contained men’s and women’s synagogue and the mikveh. The ruins of the Speyer Synagogue are the oldest visible remnants of such a building in central Europe.

Our photograph today is of the Mikveh (sometimes spelled mikvah, mikve, or mikva) (Hebrew: מִקְוֶה / מקווה, Modern Mikve Tiberian Miqwā; plural: mikva'ot or mikves (Yiddish)[1][2] Hebrew: מִקְוֶוֹת / מִקְוָאות), which is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism. This mikveh, first mentioned in 1126, has remained almost unchanged to this day and is still supplied by fresh groundwater.

The word "mikveh", as used in the Hebrew Bible, literally means a "collection" – generally, a collection of water. Several biblical regulations specify that full immersion in water is required to regain ritual purity after ritually impure incidents have occurred. A person was required to be ritually pure in order to enter the Temple. In addition, a convert to Judaism is required to immerse in a mikveh as part of the his/her conversion, and a woman is required to immerse in a mikveh after her menstrual period or childbirth before she and her husband can resume marital relations. In this context, "purity" and "impurity" are imperfect translations of the Hebrew "tahara" and "tumah", respectively, in that the negative connotation of the word impurity is not intended; rather being "impure" is indicative of being in a state in which certain things are prohibited (as relevant) until one has become "pure" again by immersion in a mikveh.

Like Mainz, and like other German towns, Speyer plays host to its own Christmas market, seen here in this photograph.

Frames 61–82 of my collected photographs from the German trip record other aspects of Speyer, its Judenhof and museum, and the synagogue. I have included photographs of several of the explanations given within the Judenhof.