4

Every Mikva I am personally familiar with is on the ground floor (first floor) or basement of its building.

Let's say a congregation owns a one story building they use as their shul. They agree to build a Mikva and this is the land they own. Is it feasible for them to build a Mikva by adding a floor to their building?

Are there any major Halachik or engineering issues with building a Mikva on the second floor?

"General knowledge (science, etc.) as it relates directly to Judaism" - is on topic as per this meta post.

4
  • 2
    There chabad center in Pittsburgh has their mikvah on the second floor
    – mroll
    Commented Apr 3, 2019 at 23:44
  • 1
    Kopitshnitz shul in brooklyn has a mikva on the first floor with a basement underneath.
    – user218076
    Commented Apr 3, 2019 at 23:49
  • 7
    It's heavy. Most gyms don't have pools upstairs for the same reason. Most people don't have basements under garages for the same reason and a Mikvah weighs more than a car after all
    – Double AA
    Commented Apr 3, 2019 at 23:55
  • 1
    I haven't seen or heard of any halachic restrictions regarding the "height location" of a mikvah. Hotels have rooftop pools. If they want to have a rooftop mikvah / tanning salon / spa combo - I think that would be a novel idea. I'm unaware of any place that has that, but, if they can fulfill all the halachic mikvah requirements and tzniut for the rest, go for it. The "engineering" challenges are probably little different than what you would need for a pool that's above ground level. Routing pipes, preventing leakage / flooding, drainage, etc. You're going against gravity after all.
    – DanF
    Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 2:05

2 Answers 2

10

There is no Halachic issue

SA YD 201.7 Rema

הגה: מותר לעשותו על הגג ובלבד שלא יהיה תוך כלי או אבן אחת שחקקו ולבסוף קבעו אבל חבור אבנים הרבה לא מקרי כלי (תשובת הרשב"א סימן ת"ת):‏

Its allowed to make it on the roof, but not in a container or a stone that was already inground before to be fixed. However stone assembly is not a utensil.

3

There are no halachik issues with this. The Chortkov Shul in Manchester, UK is being built with a Mikva on the upper floor.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .