Sanctifying Intimate Relationships

Intimate relationships bring two people together in a unique emotional and physical connection. This is something to celebrate, whether through the public festivity of a wedding, or in the private reflection of immersion in the mikvehThe ritual bath. The waters of the mikveh symbolically purify – they are seen as waters of rebirth. A convert immerses in the mikveh as part of conversion. Many Orthodox married women go to the mikveh following their period and before resuming sexual relations. Couples go to the mikveh before being married. Many, including some men, immerse before Yom Kippur; some go every Friday before Shabbat.. Sanctifying our intimate relationships elevates these unions and gives them a context of meaning and joy.