T h e J e w i s h R i t ua l B at h i n G e r m a n y

s tat i s t i c s a n d e v o l u t i o n
K atrin Ke le r

The mikveh, literally collection (of water) is a

Jewish institution for the purpose of ritual immersion which was created in the 2nd century BC
and has been in uninterrupted use since then, for
over two millennia. According to biblical regulations, full immersion in water is required to regain
ritual purity when a person or an object become
impure (e.g., a Jewish woman after menstruation
or childbirth, Jewish men after contact with dead
bodies, as part of conversion or to make utensils
used for food kosher). To purify, either living
water such as spring or ground water is needed,
or rain water that must freely flow into the basin.

1 Mikveh of the Second Temple Period, Jerusalem (Photo by

the author, 2011).

For Jewish communities, the existence of

a mikveh is even more essential than that of a
synagogue. While Jewish life is possible without
a synagogue, as nearly any room can be used for
prayers, amikveh needs to fulfil certain halakhic
conditions to be ritually pure (tahor) and without
a mikveh traditional Jewish family life is impossible.
Even though the first millennium of using this
institution has been thoroughly studied, and especially the beginning of the mikveh in the Land
of Israel from the 2nd century BC to the 7th century CE,1 its transfer to the European Diaspora
is still an important task for research. In contrast
to synagogue architecture in Germany a comprehensive overview of the known mikvaot is still
lacking this also holds true for other European
countries.2 Therefore a research project Jewish
Ritual Bath in Germany3 was carried out to increase knowledge of this Jewish ritual structure
and to gain information on its propagation
geographically and with regard to different time
periods. In addition, research has been carried
out on the typological development of the ritual
bath, from mediaeval structures to the modern
baths of the early 20th century.
By a thorough analysis of literature and by contacting many local historians, museums and

Jewish Architecture New Sources and Approaches

7
8

9
19
20

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21

30

12
15

32

4
5

22
24

23
25

17
18

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7
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119
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286
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170
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256
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3
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13
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9
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537
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18
676
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63
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682
569442
568
502
574
499-501
584-586
452
453
42
43
468-471
354
678 447-449
605
450 451
405 406 355
64
472
546356
464-467
66
484
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555
24
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326
20
67
68
3
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293-298
284
14-18
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21
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95
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607
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152
151
22
140
141
398
139
659
255
62
63
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87
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228
47
19
109
17
50
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328-330 240
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107
52
51
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41
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325
308
557
172
173
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106
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93
94
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163
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27 26
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276
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618-621
5
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154
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408
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230
413
103
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414
489/490
35
93
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93
396
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22
133 641 642
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49
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300
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657
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527
459460 104526
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380
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55 208 203193/194 481 287
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206 195-200
670
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238 262
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26
477
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285
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153 675 673
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311
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20-23
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540
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470
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136 137
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542
179
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3
236
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590-592
233
480
541
277
278
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461
237
235
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279
135
32
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88
145
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367
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239
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35
33
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63 344 280-282,284
510
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350
34
58
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613 614 261 117 143-146 415154
28-31
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543 243
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596
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25
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591 592
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325
268 269 274
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392
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40
39
263
275
185
288
364
272
141
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273
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326
324
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328
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396
40
491 492
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599
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1
593
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516
129 473 510-512 270/271
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485
490
169
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515
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149
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488
238
171
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475 240
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95
291
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489 317-320
455-458
288-290
15980 81
587 588
422
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645
185
207
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260
328
450
131
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114
280
12
12
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327
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77
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209-211
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515
305-308 19
115
116
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484
609
6
322
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443
179
8,9 334
246
516-519
214
53
256
11
13
399-401
49
134-36
369
296
608
648 136
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252
505-509 99
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7
617
100
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690
404
453/454
242
15
267
16 474
86-88
137
385
150
381
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320
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119
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465
257
234-236
459
460
315
89-91
441
345
138
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321
319 483
453
409
481 317
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69
156
417
179
180
418
147-149
73-76
135
503 504
387
386
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474 475
368
382
68
67 102
594
442
318
289 4
5 130
150 67
509
343
476
508
224
240
401
429
52
379-381 86
212
543
577
376 292
578 576
87
377
110
239
477 471
336
348
303
402-44
472
306-307
314 229
374
375 291
497-507
378 372-376
463 59 301
399 400 305
155
2
473
227
184
304
462
17
232
430
18
412
164-67
237
164 74
519
520
156 230
228 398
611
613
339-342
365109 216 423
437
438 201
212
213
370-373 188 189
139
424 163 229
15
16
138
229
400
305
399
255
558
545-548
329-331
612
69,70
166-168
127
419
230
468,469
128
6
79
80
181-183
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127
128
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100
557
118
119
66 106 133
145
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160
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334
184
7
148
252
607
415
65
66
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79
80
254
81
134,135
146
314,315
253
254
458 231-233
521
292
626
402
36
37
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461
251
579
403
71-73
522
18
354
136 192
353
580
586
189
312
47
46
523
70
12
435
270
224
186
293
294
225
581-585
27
274 277
55
275
255-257
188-203
190
425-427
440-443
207
23
18 206
37
38
11
566
271 275 249
371
151-159
354
144
350
54
191
117
221
16
17
33-36
431-34
276
24
7
74
84
45
204
372
414
93-95
204-210
348
19
20
141 273
222
223 203
299
361
78
448
21
617-619
75-77
209 360
415
313-315
437
132
302
272
436
300
311
347
96
97
449 140 310
105-08
377
312
211
19
423,424,426
13
202
653-657
431
22
98
358
99
329
97-99
435-436 452
427 428
174
357
10
22
331
434
394
330
100
376
175
176
238
2
3
77 352
28
101
102
326 76
35
325
354
14
305
306
177
489-491
493
36
9
21
4-6
8
103
317
356
180-182
26
25
103
492
494
410
192 259
280
281
320/321
456
457
322
282
104-108
411
412
193 357
323,324
297
239,240
352
279
535-537
187
188
318,319
359
34
307
168
298
443
299-301
110-112
444
362
332
27
158
211
212
208
290-92
113,114
37
15,71,165 413-417
205 157
44514
418
20
447
302
303
355
356
115,116
159
38
293 29
410
398
28-30
481
482
241 137
430
131
132
413
448
241
378
39
383-385
88
411
357-361
205,206
304
73
283
1-4
383
242-44
26
421
72
384 30
80
274
275 158 325
27
28
273
313
3 125
2
422-29
381 385
145
485
486
126 276 157
622-626
379 380
359
360 200
23
25 23 32
31 321 9
33 15 314
49
258-260
261
146-48 420
386
487
488
319
8
50
225 24
387
295
320
296
161 162
226
382 210
322
217
294
218-220 277
194 195-198
5
278
60
402
118
100
374 178
190
191
244
403
404
93-95
143
446
180
386-389
260-64 179
447 361
60,61
144
61
89,90
235
169-171
10
181
182
11
91
310
311
265
28-32
67-75
236
237
122
62-64
364-67
114
115 388
121
258
92
257
312
85-90
245-254
65
66 234
183-85
186
530-534
109
117
373
567
67
308
309116
129
226
187
69 68
110-112
368
59
397
129
438
57
58
369-72
142
143
124
121
450
451
130
152
125
56
174-176
603-605
122
123
218 430
627-638
137
215-17
614
269
395
138
213
214
370
396-398
260
231
117
554
259
573
574
435
436
575
128
445
444
446
323
271
272
140
327 289
250
251
335
324
4

88
83-86
81

10

7
39

42

29
30
31

11
12

48
49

55

227
225
226

16
4
5-8

15

33
258

279

629-634
187 188

48

321

125

545

643-645

367

40-42

387

37
684 685

140

132
126

58

322

101
102

36

11-14

617
616

33
32
34

19

107

1
2

22

3
48

55

111

36
100

12
14

139

47

31

121
78

15

18

12

39

11
13

119

3
74

11

35

27-29
61

53

17
19
21
23

47

34
68-70
72

71

69

68

122
60

124
138

20

41

57

117

75
76

12

107
3

108

80

10

24

63
64

65
66

21

51
77
9

16

137

24
25
26

113

65
17
15

18

109
75

74

112
8

60-62

44
23

15

59

104

131
1

26-28
29

52
54

100

133

43

5
4

110

53
41

10

105

93

16

56

35

1-6

114
113

78

66

36

173
175

337-341

301

354
353

13

405
406

14
437

167

11-13

168

133
384
48

10
639

396
284

313

285

610
409

389
153

109
110
269
270

416
417

154

140-42

343
344
316-18

326

328

232
233

2 Jewish ritual baths in Germany from Middle Ages until 1945 (Drawing by Henrike Borck, Bet Tfila, 2015).

Katrin Keler The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany

other institutions, we were able to collect information on more than 2,800 mikvaot from the
Middle Ages on:4

Baden-Wrttemberg

Bavaria
Berlin

Brandenburg

Bremen
Hamburg
Hesse

Lower Saxony
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Northrhine Westphalia

Rhineland Palatinate
Saaland
Saxony

Saxony-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein
Thuringia

452
668
10
40
4
9
695
127
34
141
482
28
15
44
21
70

In any case, we have (archival) knowledge of 84

mediaeval mikvaot in Germany and one might
assume that there were many more. In another
58 cases it remains unclear whether the archival
sources mentioning a Judenbad (Jewish bath)
speak of a ritual bath or a profane bathhouse.
The medieval mikvaot that could be localised,
were usually situated within the respective Jewish quarter and at short distance to the public
Jewish buildings, such as the synagogue, school,
hospital, dance house, etc. Although today medieval mikvaot are often searched for in the cellars
of synagogues (such was the case in Schwbisch
Hall, Schwbisch Gmnd or recently in Wertheim),5 there is no clear evidence of a medieval
mikveh situated directly beneath the synagogue.
It seems that during the Middle Ages ritual baths
were placed either within the synagogue court-

3 Erfurt, medieval mikveh, uncovered in 2007 (Photo by

Mirko Przystawik, 2012).

107 of the counted structures were planned but

never realized; 206 are known to be preserved and
another 157 are at least partly preserved. The largest number of former mikvaot is still in an unknown condition (1,348), while 755 are known
to be destroyed. Most of the ritual baths can at
least be dated in a certain century; of the entire
number of 2,840 mikvaot, only a small number
of 151 structures cannot be dated at all, which
would enable a statistical evaluation.
The mikvaot best known to the general public and
subject of numerous research studies from the
19th century on, are the monumental structures of
medieval communities 14 of them are preserved
in different states of condition (Andernach, Bamberg, Cologne, Erfurt, Frankfurt/Main (Jewish
Museum), Friedberg, Kaiserslautern, Offenburg,
Rothenburg/Tauber, Sondershausen, Speyer,
Worms, etc.). Another seven structures possibly
served as ritual baths during the Middle Ages.

Jewish Architecture New Sources and Approaches

yard (Cologne, Speyer) or in close vicinity to the

synagogue, but there are also cases where it was
found at a greater distance (Erfurt, Fig. 3) or even
outside the town walls (Hildesheim).

45 Eppingen, mikveh of the medieval shaft-type. Plans after

measurements in 2012 (above) and view of the stairs and
basin (Drawings by Bet Tfila; photo by the author, 2012).

After the pogroms, Jewish communities remained

small, and therefore larger building activities
could only be carried out in the early 17th century (e.g., synagogue in Frth). This can also be
gained from the statistical data on mikvaot: of all
the 2,689 structures that can be dated only 29
were built during the 16th century (1.07%) and
aslightly larger number of 87 during the 17th century (3,24%). These were mostly smaller structures in private cellars or (since the 17th century)
already beneath the synagogue. Small communities were unable financially to erect monumental
mikvaot. However, we can find structures built in
the medieval shaft-type style: The mikveh in Eppingen near Heilbronn was presumably erected
during the 16th century.6 This so-called Jordanbad was in use until 1838. The flight of stairs
with 19 steps winds down within a 4 meter deep
longitudinal shaft. The basin at the bottom is

Katrin Keler The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany

6 Sprendlingen, mikveh (Photo by Mirko Przystawik, 2012).

ca.1 m wide and 1.40 m long and resting along

the walls are the remains of a wooden planking.
Similar structures can be found in other places,
especially in southern Germany.
During the 18th century, Jewish life in Germany
met with better economic conditions, enabling a
first wave of building activities. Many communities, which formerly held prayers in private prayer
rooms were now able to finance synagogue buildings and in many cases erected a ritual bath at the
same time. From 1700 until 1819, 504 mikvaot
were built about 36 % of them in combination
with the synagogues.
In any case, we more often find simple and quite
small basins dating back to both the 17th and 18th
centuries. For the most part, they were established

in the already existing cellars of private houses. In

Sprendlingen the mikveh, presumably used until
the Thirty Years War, is situated beneath a house
that is now used as a horse stable.7 The water in
its basin, excavated in 1979, is now smelly and of
brown colour due to the infiltration of swill. But
it does provide an impression of what many small
mikvaot in rural communities looked like.
The archives preserve numerous descriptions of
district physicians who, from the 1820s on, were
obliged to observe the mikvaot and report to the
authorities. At this time, along with the incipient emancipation of Jews, the authorities began
to pay more attention to the Jewish rites and at
the same time the knowledge on the coherences
of hygiene and diseases evolved.

Jewish Architecture New Sources and Approaches

7 Butzbach-Griedel, mikveh (Photo by the author, 2012).

According to the report of physician Johann

Georg Beutner in 1828, the ritual bath of Bergzabern was situated in the basement of Aaron
Feis, a member of the Jewish community:
He erected it at his own expense some years ago.
Next to the kitchen on ground floor, there is a
musty, moldy container space nearly inaccessible
to daylight, in which turnips, potatoes, sauerkraut, etc. are stored. Deep inside this space
there is the source, that once bubbled in front of
the house and to which a stone stairway covered
by a trap door leads. Next to this area are the
privy and the cesspit. The edge of the water is
formed in such a fashion as to hinder water
from draining off; the water itself is of many colours, also dark, foaming and more resembling a
puddle than water for purification.8

Such conditions prompted the authorities to

claim that ritual baths should meet certain requirements and in many cases they forced the
Jewish communities to erect new baths if renovation was not possible. This was the reason why
the peak of construction activity can be set in a
relatively short period of time between 1820
and the beginning of the Franco-German War in
1870 when one third of the entire number of
German mikvaot (811) was erected. This boom
was clearly forced by the non-Jewish authorities,
who from the 1820s on demanded that the existing baths be changed or already erected modern
mikvaot be given heating possibilities, better ventilation and exposure to daylight. Since most of
the structures that were in use at that time were
situated in dark and damp cellars, sometimes
several meters deep beneath the cellar level and
could not be adapted to the new requirements,
many Jewish communities had to establish new
ritual baths even if they themselves did not consider this a necessity. In 1822, the Grand Ducal
Baden Ministry ruled that in those places where a
modern mikveh was not available, a newly erected
synagogue inevitably had to contain a ritual bath;
building applications that did not meet this criterion were rejected.9
One important demand of the authorities was to
heat both the water and the room as well as to
empty the basin regularly if possible after each
use. This could rarely be fulfilled in mikvaot based
on ground water and in use since the Middle
Ages. The Jewish communities found themselves
in a conflict between halakhic law and secular
jurisdiction. Some communities from the first
half of the 19th century on made use of rainwater
as was already done during Antiquity for ritual
baths.10 In some places even pumps were used,
even though they are forbidden according to the
ritual law. In many baths based on rain water we
found a drainage at the bottom of the basin. If
not 100% watertight, the entire mikveh would
become unkosher. Highly interesting discussions

Katrin Keler The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany

can be found in contemporary Jewish newspapers

and journals on the question of how to heat the
mikveh in a halakhic way and how to use the rain
water.11
A modern example of a mikveh is still preserved
in situ in Heubach-Kalbach near Fulda: The
mikveh, dating back to 184344, is situated at
ground level in the synagogue building, windows
provide light and fresh air and water could be
heated in the kitchen next to it. Only the bottom
of the reservoir in which the rain water was col-

8 Heubach-Kalbach,
mikveh basin and the rests
of the rain water reservoir
(Photo by the author,
2012).

lected remains today, but one can easily imagine

how the mikveh worked. Rain water was collected
in the reservoir and when needed, the water was
let to flow into the basin and hot water could be
added through an opening. It seems that rain water was used here directly for immersion.12
In any case, even though one could assume that
using rainwater became widespread within the
Jewish communities from the 1820s on, statistics
reveal the opposite: Out of 117 mikvaot between
1820 to 1870, only 21 were based on rain wa-

Jewish Architecture New Sources and Approaches

9 Buttenwiesen, mikveh
basin and the suggested
otzar behind it. A pipe is
visible in the second stair
(Photo by the author,
2012).

ter (18 %), while 46 continued to use ground or

spring water (39 %). During the preceding period (17001819),only 5 out of 83 mikvaot made
use of rain water (6 %), 51 used ground water
(61 %). Although a marked increase of rain water can be noted in comparison to earlier times,
the use of flowing water (from rivers and mostly
smaller streams) was still much more common
(40 mikvaot of 117, 34 %).
Another possibility using a water reservoir as
an otzar was found in halakhic texts. The otzar method involves a separate basin, the otzar
(Hebrew for treasury), situated next to the basin,
for immersion. Since similar systems were found
during excavations in Israel, it was assumed that
this method was already in use during Antiquity
only recently this assumption has been convincingly contested by Yonatan Adler.13
The method is described in a letter written by
Rabbi Moses Sofer (born 1762 in Frankfurt, died

1839 in Bratislava), presumably between 1806

and 1839, when he served as rabbi in Bratislava.
The letter to Rabbi Benjamin Wolf Hamburg,
rabbi of Frth, treats the problem of heating and
the exchange of the water. Concerning the latter,
Sofer mentions the method used in his own community:14
From the days of the sages of old, our community [i.e. Bratislava] has had two pools, one
beside the other; both are filled [with water],
and connected to one another via a hole [in the
wall between the two] [measuring in diameter]
more than the size of the mouth of a waterskin.
After they clean one [of the pools], they refill it
by pouring water into the other pool using pipes
regular water until the empty pool is refilled.
When this pool has thus been refilled, they then
clean out the other pool, [refilling it] by pouring
water into the first.

Rabbi Sofer describes the otzar method, which

he states was already used during the days of the
sages of old so that we can only assume that he

Katrin Keler The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany

commented on times prior to 1806 possibly the

18th century or even earlier.
A similar system can still be seen in situ in Georgensgmnd, Bavaria:15 A first mikveh dating from
1733, situated underneath the synagogue and
possibly even older than the house of prayer, was
closed by the authorities during the first half of
the 19th century because of the previously mentioned circumstances no heating possibilities
and an exchange of the large amount of ground
water was also not possible. The community
therefore built a new mikveh on the ground
floor probably in 1879. This mikveh has two
basins, one next to the other and both connected
by a pipe some 8 cm in diameter: one functioned
as otzar and the other one for immersion. It is unclear how the otzar was filled with kosher water;

it seems that one either collected rain water or

possibly pumped water from the old mikveh by
letting it run down a shaft of broken stones that
was partitioned from the otzar basin.16 The entire
otzar holds ca. 903 litres corresponding to the
800-1,000 liters that are often given as the necessary amount of 40 sea mentioned in the Mishna. The method of making non-kosher water
suitable for the mikveh by pouring it over stones
is described in the Talmud and was used during
Antiquity to add water when it rained. According
to ritual law, the kosher water of the otzar can
purify not only a person by immersion but also
any other amount of water that is brought into
contact with it. This enabled the Jewish community to fulfil the demands of the authorities: The
mikveh basin could be filled for each person with
new tap water until the height of the connecting

10 Georgensgmnd, new mikveh basin on the right and the otzar on the left (Photo by Mirko Przystawik, 2012)

10

pipe (at a height of ca. 1.10 m above the ground

of the basin). Normally the pipe was closed by
a stopper which was removed when the immersion basin was filled, so that the two quantities
of water touched each other and herewith made
the mikveh water kosher. After using the bath and
on reclosing the stopper, the immersion pool was
emptied via a plughole at the bottom of the pool.
Another way to fill the mikveh basin was described by Rabbi Sofer during the 19th century:
His community filled the empty pool through the
opened connecting pipe by adding more water to
the otzar, which then overflowed into the immersion pool. The Georgensgmnd Community
possibly used this method and therefore pumped
water from the lower (older) mikveh into the otzar. Although this method corresponded to the
demands of the authorities and to the halakhic
law alike, we have found only a few ritual baths
that used this method.17
After 1870 and up until WW I, only a relatively
small number of 182 mikvaot was erected. Many
communities had already given up the use of the
ritual bath and only the orthodox communities
built new mikvaot mostly in combination with
a new synagogue (143 of them were situated either
within the building or in the synagogue courtyard). Some of these new structures were built by
the so-called Ostjuden, Jews who since the 1880s
had fled the Pogroms in Eastern Europe and constituted their own orthodox communities with
their own facilities (prayer rooms, mikvaot) in
many German towns. Only 23 ritual baths were
built between WW I and WW II most of them
(61 %) within a synagogue building or its courtyard. Some of these structures are preserved and
were used again after WW II, such as the mikvaot
in Bad Nauheim, Berlin or Frankfurt/Main.
The research project has uncovered a large number of 2,840 mikvaot that existed for many centuries in Germany. However, since official regis-

Jewish Architecture New Sources and Approaches

tration and surveillance of these structures was

only carried out from the 1820s on and due to
their private character, mikvaot were hidden and
mostly known only to the Jewish community, it
can be assumed that many more mikvaot prior to
the 19th century were destroyed or are actually still
preserved, covered by layers of dust. Until today,
mikvaot are being re-discovered and therefore research will have to continue beyond the end of
this project period.

Katrin Keler The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany

1 On ritual baths in Erez Israel see Ronny Reich, Mikvaot tohorah

bi-tekufat ha-Bayit ha-sheni uvi-tekufot ha-Mishnah veha-Talmud
= Miqwaot (Jewish baths) in the Second Temple, Mishnaic and
Talmudic periods (Jerusalem, 2013), Hebrew.
2 A first overview of mikvaot in Germany was given by Georg
Heuberger (ed.), Mikwe: Geschichte und Architektur jdischer
Ritualbder in Deutschland (Frankfurt/Main, 1992).
3 The project was carried out in close cooperation between Bet
Tfila Research Unit for Jewish Architecture in Europe, Technische Universitt Braunschweig (Prof. Dr. Harmen H. Thies,
Dr. Katrin Keler) and the Zinman Institute for Archaeology,
University of Haifa (Prof. Dr. Ronny Reich). We are most grateful that the German Israeli Foundation (G.I.F.) supported this
project over a period of three years (201114).
4 Data collected until June 2015.
5 In 2012, Bet Tfila was asked for help to localize the mikveh and
to survey the cellar beneath the present Marienkirche, that was
erected in 1447 on the plot of the medieval synagogue. The cellar seems to have existed prior to the church as it does not follow
the buildings outline, and a publication of 1916 mentions a ritual bath here: Die Denkmalpflege (December 27, 1916), p.124.
But even through ground-penetrating radar (GPR), no proof
could be found of the existence of a mikveh beneath the synagogue. See Arno Patzelt, Untersuchungsbericht: Erkundung
mit Georadar im Untergeschoss Marienkapelle, Kapellengasse 3,
97877 Wertheim (Mssingen, 2014), unpublished manuscript.
I would like to thank Georg Brander, Wertheim, who provided
me with these details and invited me to visit the site.
6 On the Eppingen mikveh see for example . I would like to thank
Peter Riek, Eppingen, who showed me the mikveh during my
visit in April 2012.
7 The mikveh was excavated by the Heimatverein Freunde
Sprendlingens. I am grateful to Arno Baumbusch, Sprendlingen, who showed the mikveh to our team during our visit in
August 2012.
8 Bernhard Kukatzki, Mordlcher und Mikwen Anmerkungen
zur Geschichte jdischer Ritualbder in der Pfalz (Landau in der
Pfalz, 2001), p. 14: Derselbe lie es auf eigene Kosten vor einigen Jahren herrichten. Neben der Kche zu ebener Erde ist ein
dumpfer, moderiger, dem Tageslichte kaum zugnglicher Behlter, in dem Rben, Kartoffeln, Sauerkraut u. dgl. Mehr aufbewahrt werden; in demselben ist in der Tiefe die Quelle, welche
frher vor dem Hause sprudelte, zu welcher eine steinerne Stiege
fhrt und welche mit einer Fallthre bedeckt ist. Neben dem
Behlter ist der Abtritt und die Mistgrube. Das Wasser ist so
gefat, da es nie abflieen kann, es hat alle Farben, ist dunkel,
schaumig und gleicht mehr einem Pfuhl, als einem Reinigungswasser. Es wird angeblich alle sechs Wochen ausgeschpft.
9 Zeitschrift fr Staatsarzneikunde, 1825.
10 On ritual baths in Erez Israel see Reich, Mikvaot tohorah bitekufat ha-Bayit ha-sheni.
11 See for example S. Adler, Neuer Apparat zur Erwrmung des
Wassers im Reinigungsbad, Der treue Zions-Wchter. Organ zur
Wahrung der Interessen des orthodoxen Judentums 25, June 23,
1846, pp. 20911.
12 The researchers team visited the mikveh in July 2012. We are
most grateful to Hartmut Zimmermann, Frderverein Landsynagoge Heubach, who provided us with information on the erection of the building. I would also like to thank architect Jrgen
Krieg, krieg + warth architects Eichenzell, who was responsible
for the restoration of the synagogue and mikveh and provided
me with documentation plans.
13 Yonatan Adler, The Myth of the r - Second Temple Period
Ritual Baths: An Anachronistic Interpretation of a Modern-Era
Innovation, Journal of Jewish Studies, 65, 2014, pp. 26383.

11

14 I am most thankful to Yonatan Adler, Jerusalem, who during his

research for our project The Jewish Ritual Bath in Germany
translated this response from Nussenzweig (ed.), Hatam Sofer
Responsa, Yore Dea 212, pp. 427-28. He discusses this subject
in Yonatan Adler, The Myth of the r, pp. 27374.
15 The mikvaot in Georgensgmnd were visited by the joint team
in September 2011; we are most grateful to Dieter Schlaug,
Georgensgmnd, who provided us with information and
showed us the synagogue and mikvaot.
16 At least this method is mentioned in the excavation report in the
local archives in Georgensgmnd: Gutachten ber die archologische Dokumentation in der ehemaligen Synagoge von
Georgensgmnd (Ansbach, 1991), unpublished manuscript.
See also Georgensgmnd 700 Jahre Geschichte am Zusammenfluss von Frnkischer und Schwbischer Rezat (Georgensgmnd,
2002), pp. 31314. Today there are no stones in the smaller
part of the basin.
17 An otzar was possibly used in the mikvaot in Buttenwiesen
(1855), Haigerloch (1845), Hainsfarth (1829) and in Dresden
(1923). The preserved mikvaot in Buttenwiesen and in Haigerloch are situated in a separate structure. There are two basins
one with stairs for immersion and the other one without steps
as a water reservoir. (Anyhow) But the connection remains unclear: (in Buttenwiesen) there is a pipe at a rather low level in
Buttenwiesen, in Haigerloch no pipe could be found, possibly
since the upper part of the basins is destroyed.