Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

February 6, 2017

The Archaeological Evidence for Ancient Jewish Purity Rites

Mikva’ot and chalkstone vessels.

From the Bible, the Talmud, and various texts from the Second Temple period it is evident that ritual purity was a major concern of ancient Jews—as it is for many modern Jews. Only recently, however, has extensive physical evidence of this concern come to light, particularly in the form of the many ancient mikva’ot, or ritual baths, discovered by archaeologists. Yonatan Adler writes:

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