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Mikvah Esther Rebuilds from the Ground Up

To make the mikvah’s building as beautiful physically as it is spiritually, Mikvah Esther is launching a complete rebuilding of every square inch of its 50-year-old space. 
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November 15, 2022
Rendering of mikvah bath Tim Vincent, architect,; Candra Mathis, designer

When Mikvah Esther opened its doors in 1976, the board of directors at the LA Mikvah Society wanted to provide a community mikvah in Pico-Robertson, which was becoming a hub of Jewish life in LA. It has more than succeeded, serving nearly 900 women a month. The mikvah’s clientele  comes from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, including Chabad, modern Orthodox, Sephardic, Israeli, and yeshivish.

Before this, Orthodox Jews who lived in Pico-Robertson had to go to La Brea to immerse themselves in the purifying waters.   In the 50s, the Orthodox community in Pico schlepped all the way to Boyle Heights.

“The dream of the original founders of the Mikvah Esther was to provide a beautiful mikvah for everyone in the neighborhood,” board member Malka Lesches, whose father Moshe Fishman, z”l, served on the mikvah’s original board, told the Journal.

The mikvah attendants, who are paid employees, are trained to provide warm service to the up to 40 women every night who come to dip, Lesches said. She acknowledged that taharat mishpacha (laws of family purity) is not always an easy mitzvah for many women.

“Because we are a community mikvah, we cater to such a vast spectrum of women from religious to non-religious.” – Malka Lesches

Lesches, an LA native and mother of four,  said that her work on the mikvah’s board not only helped to connect more spiritually to the mitzvah of taharat mishpacha (family purity), but also to connect to her beloved father, “who gave his heart and soul to providing the community with a mikvah. “I really feel like he is with me with everything that I am doing and trying to accomplish. Because we are a community mikvah, we cater to such a vast spectrum of women from religious to non-religious.”

Rendering of mikvah lobby
Tim Vincent, architect,; Candra Mathis, designer

“We try to make everyone feel comfortable to come to the mikvah,” echoed Mikvah Esther President Vivian Lurie. “The mikvah attendant’s job, in its essence, is to make sure each woman properly submerges in the water.  We never question any woman’s level of religious observance.  Although we do everything within Orthodox parameters, what is most important to us, is that as many Jewish married women use the mikvah as possible. The goal for us is for people to come.”

Lesches said, “Our policy is: 100% no judgments … When we are in the mikvah, we are all the same.”

To make the mikvah’s building as beautiful physically as it is spiritually, Mikvah Esther is launching a complete rebuilding of every square inch of its 50-year-old space. 

While the mikvah was renovated 25 years ago, the mikvah’s heavy traffic has taken its toll, Lesches said, who added with a laugh that the building “needs some love right now.”

Although the mikvah’s four walls will remain standing, everything else from the ground up will be rebuilt and redesigned, including the borot, which hold the rainwater that flows into the mikvah’s three pools. 

While the mikvah currently provides two pools for women and one for men, after the mikvah is rebuilt, all three mikvah pools will only serve women.

In addition, Mikvah Esther’s 12 dressing rooms for women will grow to 17, so as to accommodate more women.

The LA Mikvah’s interior redesigns will include “beautiful stones and tiles chosen by award-winning designer Candra Mathis, who is really talented,” said Lesches, who added that the project’s architect is Tim Vincent, who works at the architectural firm, Graphik Plans.

“The spirituality and holiness of this mikvah will be reflected in the beauty and in the state-of-the-art aesthetic that the board wants to bring to Jewish women to provide an enriching experience,” Lesches said. 

She added: “While many women take their time to savor the mikvah experience, some women want to run in and out … We hope that our renovation will help more women to want to slow down and not necessarily rush through the experience. We want our beautiful new space to help Jewish women to feel totally immersed in the experience of this mitzvah because it will be so spiritually uplifting and aesthetically beautiful.”

Other updates will include an easy-to-use website, and iPads will replace the old-fashioned intercom system by which women inform mikvah attendants that they are ready. The iPads will also allow women to customize their dressing room environments by dimming the lights or by playing music.

Among other new mikvah projects in Pico-Robertson is the Beverly Hills Spa Mikvah, which is under construction on Robertson and Olympic. In 2023, as part of the Eiden Project, a new, much larger building is in the works to house Chabad SOLA: Chabad-Lubavitch of La Cienega. It will be breaking ground to build a “beautiful women’s spa-like mikvah and a large men’s mikvah,” according to SOLA Rabbi Avraham Zajac, who said the project will likely take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Because Mikvah Esther is a community mikvah, it needs to be funded by the community, Lesches said, adding that the diverse volunteer board is currently reaching out to individuals and holding small parlor meetings to raise donations. 

In February, the Mikvah Esther is planning a community crowd-funding event so everyone in LA and beyond has the opportunity to donate to the mikvah. 

People who want to donate to the mikvah can check out the website at BuildingLAmikvah.org.

Lurie said she would like every family who uses the mikvah in Pico to feel it is a partner in the mikvah’s reconstruction and importance. 

“We really want all Pico community members to try to give whatever they can afford because we want everyone to feel a stake in our community mikvah, which preserves the sanctity of Jewish families.”

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