MIQVEH. In Jewish tradition, a miqveh (plural miqvaʾot) is a pool of water, either natural or constructed, used for ritual purification of persons and objects.

Biblical Period

Biblical texts concerning contraction of ritual impurity, such as Leviticus 15 (impurity from bodily emissions), Numbers 19 (impurity from contact with a corpse), and Numbers 31:22–23 (impure objects), ordain that immersion in water is required to remove ritual uncleanness in some instances. However, biblical legislation does not specify the nature of the pool or the source or amount of the water in which ritual immersion is to take place, nor does the word miqveh appear in the Hebrew Bible in this context. It seems likely that immersion in the biblical period was generally restricted to priests who were required to be ritually pure before partaking of the freewill offerings (terumah) given by the people.

Second Temple Period

The earliest archaeological remains of ritual...