Mattot: Fishing at the Mikvah

I know, I know. It’s Devarim; a new book and a completely new narrative. How can I go back to Mattot? But some stories must be told. This is based on a true incident, or as the Maggid might say, "A mayseh shehawya."

Bamidbar: 31: 23

The boy was sitting on the curb in front of the mikvah when Manny and Talia pulled up. They were there to tovel a frying pan and a carving knife in the keilim mikvah before these utensils could take their proud place in the Friedman kitchen. It should have been a quick drive for a routine ritual utensil dunk, and then on to dinner at the local schwarma joint, maybe even a movie. But there was something so forlorn about this yeshiva boy.

He was sitting on the curb in his white shirt and black pants, with his tzitzis hanging out, looking like he had lost his last friend. As Manny walked up he noticed the boy’s wrinkled white button-down shirt was splashed with water in the front, and his sleeves were completely soaked up to the shoulders, with water dripping from his cuffs. In his right hand was a long stick.

"Hi," Talia said to the boy.

"Hello."

"I hope I’m not being too forward, but are you O.K. ?"

"No, not really."

A brief silence ensued. Talia sat down on the curb next to the boy.

"What seems to be the problem?" Manny asked.

"I lost my becher."

"You lost it?"

"In the mikvah. I was toveling it, andI let go, and it sank to the bottom ."

"Is that why you have that stick?" Talia asked.

"Yes. I was trying to fish it out, but the mikvah is deep."

It was true. It probably was not meant to be a philosophical statement on tevilat keilim, the ritual immersion of vessels, but when the Jewish community of North Miami Beach, Florida built their mikvah for keilim, they made it deep, and, thanks to the rainwater it collected, it was murky. There was no way of visualizing the bottom of the cistern.

Manny and Talia walked inside with the boy to survey the mikvah and found what they expected. It was deep. It was murky. It was cold. The sun shone on the surface of the mikvah’s water from the open doorway and projected a ripple pattern on the walls.

Manny looked at the boy and at Talia and he smiled.

"What’s your name?" Manny asked.

"Eli. Eli Wasser."*

"Eli Wasser, where are you from?"

"New Jersey."

"You’re a little far from New Jersey," Talia observed.

"I’m dorming at Yeshivat Torat Emet," Eli said, pointing across the street.

"Well, Eli Wasser from New Jersey, this is your lucky day. As fate would have it, this week’s parsha actually discusses the mitzvah of tevila, of ritual immersion. In Parshat Mattot, after Bnei Yisroel defeat the Midianites, Elazar the Kohen Gadol instructs the people to purify all the booty they took from the war. He says: Kol davar asher yavoh va’eish ta’aviru va’eish, vetaher ach bimei nidah yitchatah, vechol asher lo yavoh ba’eish ta’aviru vamayim. Everything that comes into the fire you shall pass through the fire and it will be purified.; but it must be purified with the water of sprinkling. And everything that would not come into the fire, you shall pass through the water.

"Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the tevila of metal vessels is an expression of kedusha, of the moral sanctification of life, so that a Jew elevates the material enjoyment of his food through the mikvah process.

"So you see, Eli Wasser from New Jersey, we’re going to utilize your sunken kiddush cup to elevate this moment. Stay here. I’ll be right back."

And with that, Manny and Talia drove away (after dunking their pan and knife, of course).

Manny returned a few minutes later with a broom and a swimming pool implement with a net at the end (this is Miami, after all). With a few swishes and a lucky grab, Eli Wasser from New Jersey had his becher back, pure and good as new.

Manny put his arm around the boy and gave him a squeeze. "Did you learn anything from this experience, Eli?"

"Um, to keep a tight grip on my becher in the mikvah?"

"O.K., that will have to do for now. But I have a son-in-law in New Jersey who tells stories, and I’m sure he can make something out of this. I mean, it’s a mikvah story on Parshat Mattot. What are the odds?"

"Whatever you say, Mr. Friedman."

The boy returned to his yeshiva, and Manny Friedman flipped open his cell phone and dialed the Maggid.

___________

* Normally I change all the names to protect the innocent, but if you’re writing a mikvah story and the boy’s last name is Wasser, well, enough said.

Thank you to my father-in-law, Dr. Morton Freiman (Seran Morne’) for the story.

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Comments

[maggedet]

a slam dunk!

[Grandpops]

Dear Maggid, My enjoyment and admiration for the weekly Maggid stories are immeasurable. I wait for them each week and when Savta brings it up on the internet and I hear a joyful shout, I know a new Maggid has been born. Without you knowing it, I live in the fantasy world of contributing something that would appear in one of the stories. Another fantasy came to me this past Pesach when we started the seder. When we stood around the table and sang "Kadesh urchatz and came to Maggid..I became lost in thought trying to think how I could introduce that Maggid into a story for your blog. At one time, both fantasies have merged...I cannot believe this true story of that wonderful yeshiva student Eli Wasser, experiencing it first hand, having the privilege helping him retrieve his silver bechur from the mikvah and thinking I must call the Maggid of Bergenfield with my story. I thought to myself we must find some connection with the parsha. That was Thursday evening. Friday morning I told the story to Noam in Eretz Yisrael and immediately he excitedly told me "that's this week's parsha. The halachot of kashering kelim were are in Matos"That is when you received an emergency maggid call. Finally, the maggid from Pesach to light. and I said to myself "MAGGID>>>RACHTZAH!!!!" with Love Grandpops

[MotherofIsrael]

we've been away for a couple weeks, so I just enjoyed a heavy dose of catch up! thanks for keeping these up, the children will be thrilled when we read over them again tonight with them.

btw enjoyed the one with the flight out of toronto too! as we flew from there with Air Canada to Israel last Nov.

Shalom
Ways of Zion

[Jameel @ The Muqata]

About 5 months ago, I went to the mikveh keilim to tovel some silverware. While learning over to dunk them, my cellphone fell out of my shirt picket (yes, that *was* a stupid place for it), and fell directly into the mikva...down down down it went...till it rested deep underwater facing up.

Leaning over, I dove my arm into the mikva...and barely managed to grasp it and haul it to the surface.

It was still on...but would probably be going fast.

I quickly pulled off the back of it, yanked out the battery, took out the SIM card...(equivalent of cellphone CPR).

24 hours later, I reassembled it all, and it works fine.

I now have one of the most kosher cellphones around!