Mikvah: Technology to Transform

(10) for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean;

(4) All the seas are like a mikveh, as the verse says (Genesis 1:10) "And the gathering [literally: mikveh] of water, God called seas," according to Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: the great sea [i.e. the Mediterranean, alone] is like a mikveh; the verse only says "seas" [in the plural] because it contains many types of seas.

(1) According to biblical law, any water that is gathered may be used for immersion, as it is written: "A gathering of water" (Leviticus 11:36), of any kind; provided that there is enough of it to fill up the measure required for the complete immersion of a human's entire body. The sages have calculated the measure to be one cubit square by three cubits deep. This quantity holds forty seahs (sixty gallons) water, whether drawn or undrawn [from any kind of receptacle].

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ashi said above that Rav said that the laws governing interpositions that invalidate ritual immersion are halakhot transmitted to Moses from Sinai. The Gemara challenges this assertion: These, too, are written in the Torah, as it is written: “And he shall bathe all his flesh in the water” (Leviticus 15:16), and the Sages derived that nothing should intervene between flesh and the water. The definite article in the phrase “in the water” indicates that this bathing is performed in water mentioned elsewhere, i.e., specifically in the water of a ritual bath, and not in just any water. And the phrase “all his flesh” indicates that it must be in water into which all of the body can enter, i.e., in which a person can immerse their entire body at once. And how much water is that? It is a cubit by a cubit by the height of three cubits. And the Sages calculated the volume of a ritual bath of this size and determined that the waters of a ritual bath measure forty se’a.

(9) One who says, "I will sin, and then repent, I will sin again, and then repent," will not receive an opportunity to repent; for one who says "I will sin, and Yom Kipur will atone," Yom Kippur will not atone. Yom Kippur atones for transgressions between a person and God, but for a transgression against one's neighbor, Yom Kipur cannot atone, until they appeases their neighbor.

Thus R. Eleazar ben Azariah expounds the text, "From all your sins before God shall you be clean": For transgressions between a person and God, Yom Kippur atones, for transgressions against one's neighbor, Yom Kippur cannot atone, until they appease their neighbor. R. Akiva says, Happy are you, Israel! Before whom are you purified, and who purifies you of your transgressions? God. For it is said, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean"; and it is also said, "The ‏ritual bath‎ [lit. Hope] of Israel is the God"; even as a ritual bath purifies the unclean, so does the Holy One, Blessed Be, purify Israel.