Clearing the Pipeline for Hashem’s Blessings
My name is Aryeh and my wife and I live in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. We are grateful to have a kosher mikvah in town for my wife to use.
About two years ago, Mrs. Chana Gordon, one of the Chabad shluchot in Richmond, initiated a campaign to freshen up the mikvah and make it more inviting for women to use. She bought new towels, bathrobes, and supplies, and started cleaning the mikvah regularly.
I am a professional tile setter by trade, and am also very handy. Since my wife uses the mikvah, one of the mikvah attendants, Shirah Malka Zydenberg (may Hashem send her a speedy recovery), recommended that Chana contact me to see if I could help replace the broken tiles in the mikvah. I gladly agreed and did so free of charge.
I soon learned that the pathway and area through which the rainwater enters the mikvah required fixing and was in need of a good cleaning and I agreed to take care of it. What followed was a most special journey, which included learning numerous halachot (laws) pertaining to the specific way in which a mikvah is to be repaired and cleaned while still maintaining its kosher status. This job was quite unlike any I had done before, and I enjoyed the experience.
When the job was finished, Rabbi Levi Varnai, the rabbi in charge of the mikvah, asked me how much money he owed for the job. He must have been surprised when I shared with him that all I wanted was his blessing that we be granted another child (our second and youngest child was six-and-a-half years old at the time).
Rabbi Varnai told me that a mikvah is a cornerstone of Jewish continuity, and that my work in repairing and cleaning the mikvah stood me in good stead for a blessing.
I then went into the mikvah building and spoke to Hashem from the depths of my heart, asking to be blessed with a child.
Nine months later, we were blessed with a daughter.
Our “mikvah baby” is now 18 months old, thank G-d. I continue to service the mikvah free of charge—it’s my way of thanking Hashem for His kindness.
I have made it my mission to tell people that if they’d like to open up a channel for Hashem’s blessings, they need to make mikvah part of their lives. Be it through observing Taharat Hamishpachah (the laws of family purity), supporting a mikvah financially, or in any other way, the mitzvah of mikvah will bring blessings to you and your family, regardless of your current station in life.
By Aryeh Safonik, posted on Mikvah.org