Johannesburg was privileged to have HaRav Meir Posen, of
London and Kiryat Sefer, visit this past week. He came to
assist with various mikveh projects.
The largest one is being built under the auspices of Rabbi
Raff of the Maharsha Community. It has been designed to have
two separate mikvaos, a keilim mikveh and ten
bath rooms. Every possible hiddur is being included,
so that this facility will be acceptable to all the various
communities in Johannesburg. Rabbi Raff explains that while
there are still Jews in golus, every effort must be
made to provide the best facilities for their avodas
Hashem.
An excellent mikveh was built some 15 years ago in the
Glenhazel area but, with the tremendous growth of observance
as well as the move northwards of the frum communities
of Yeoville, the existing facility has become completely
overloaded. The new mikveh is in Fairmount which is
centrally located for most of the Johannesburg communities.
Every effort is being made to have it completed soon after
Pesach.
The second project that Rabbi Posen worked on, is the almost
complete mikveh of the Sephardi community, Beit
Israel. It is in Sydenham and will serve a community of
mostly Israeli families. This mikveh is unique in that
it has a completely separate second mikveh with
facilities for handicapped women.
At both mikvaos, on Rabbi Posen's advice, boreholes
were drilled and strong flows of water were found at about 65
meters. He has guided the builders on how to combine this
water source with that of the available rainwater to ensure
that they can operate properly throughout the year.
Rabbi Posen also visited the mikveh in Pretoria which
he assisted with some years ago. He was also involved in the
design of the mikveh in Sandton some time ago, and on
a previous visit prepared a report on all the South African
mikvaos for the community authorities.
