Q&A: Immersion in a Mikveh Nowadays
Immersion in a Mikveh Nowadays
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask whether, in your opinion, there is any value for men to immerse in a mikveh nowadays, whether in honor of the Sabbath or before Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur, or in the case of someone who has become impure through a seminal emission.
Best regards,
Answer
I’m not worthy to rule on this. It is written that there is value in this before the festivals.
As for someone with a seminal emission, see Shulchan Arukh, section 88 (in practice there is no need to immerse nowadays, neither for Torah study nor for prayer).
Discussion on Answer
I don’t think there is formal authority here, but I’m not sure the issue of formal authority is relevant regarding things that are not obligatory. In general, there is no obligation to think something, even with respect to fully binding Jewish laws. You are obligated to act, not to think. So with respect to this kind of enhancement, where there is no obligation to act, how would you define formal authority: to think that there is an enhancement in it? There is no authority that obligates a person to think something, only to act. Maybe one could press the point, but on the face of it there seems to be no room here for formal authority.
In any case, if you believe the sources that say this, then from your perspective there is an enhancement here. That is substantive authority. It can also be discussed under the laws of customs.
And here I’ll ask a question that touches not only on immersion in a mikveh, but on anything that is not a full obligation:
Does formal authority exist here? Can one say that I am obligated to think that there is an enhancement here, or to act as someone does who thinks there is an enhancement here?
Does substantive authority exist here?
Thank you very much