Mikveh for married women only?
The Religious Action Center has appealed to Religious Services Minister Yakov Margi, demanding that he order Religious Council across the country to allow all women to immerse in a mikveh (ritual bath) – regardless of their marital status.
According to the Center, in many communities unmarried women have been banned from ritual baths to avoid giving them halachic authorization for sexual relations as single women – an act of discrimination constituting "a civil injustice and criminal offense."
he Center's representative, Attorney Orly Erez-Lahovsky, sent a letter to Minister Margi following an appeal she received from a divorced woman living in a small community in the Negev, who was not allowed to immerse in the ritual bath near her home after being required to present her identity card to the bath attendant and prove her marital status.
"The mikveh is a public building operated by the Religious Council for all residents, and is not the bath attendant's private property," the letter said. "All women living in the area may use the mikveh, and therefore a woman cannot be banned entry due to her marital status."
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