Tokyo Opens Historic Mikvah

By Chaya Schley – Chabad.org

Celebrating what Israel’s ambassador to Japan called a “miracle,” friends and supporters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Tokyo gathered at the opening and dedication of the metropolis’ new Jewish ritual bath called mikvah last week, a project which spanned more than four years.

Rabbi Mendi and Chana Sudakevich, co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Tokyo moved here from Israel in 2000. With a population of more than 13 million, Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolitan area, and most of Japan’s 2,000 Jewish residents are concentrated in the Tokyo area, with thousands more visiting the city on business or as tourists each year.

Building a new mikvah in Tokyo has been a priority for the Sudakeviches. When the couple moved to Japan, another Jewish organization in Tokyo ran a mikvah, but it was closed in 2008. For the past four years, many Jewish residents of Tokyo have been traveling 325 miles to Kobe, the only other city in Japan with a Jewish community, to use their mikvah.

Before Rosh Hashanah 2008, Chabad-Lubavitch moved into a building in the Minato neighborhood of Tokyo, and set to raising money to build a new synagogue and mikvah. Unfortunately, the move coincided with the financial crisis that began that year. Raising nearly $200,000 needed to build the mikvah seemed impossible.

“I was trying to raise money for the mikvah all the time,” recalls Sudakevich. “We had many people say they would give the money needed, but in the end they couldn’t do so.”

By late 2010, the Sudakeviches had succeeding in raising the much smaller amount needed to renovate the synagogue area. Then, “out of nowhere,” Yair Levy, a Kobe resident, called Sudakevich and offered a generous donation that would allow them to get the mikvah project underway. Levy, originally from Israel, has lived in Japan for 17 years and is president of Congregation Ohel Shlomo in Kobe. He owns cosmetics and jewelry stores in Japan, and was about to embark on a new business venture when he decided to make the gift for the mikvah.

“I wanted to start with the soul, with a mitzvah. I know the weight of the mitzvah of mikvah. I just wanted everybody to be able to do this mitzvah,” says Levy.

Securing the remaining funds for the mikvah proved to be just the first in a series of challenges. Because they had never built a mikvah before, many Japanese construction companies were unwilling to take on the project. “We went to at least 10 construction companies, but none of them wanted to do it,” Sudakevich says.

Finally, with Levy’s help, they found a company who agreed to build the mikvah. Tokyo-based architect Richard Bliah and Rabbi Meir Posen, a noted expert on mikvahs, designed the plan. The mikvah needed both to adhere to strict halachic standards, and to fit within a typically small Japanese space of just 130 square feet. Michelle Michaan Tal, a business administrator who moved with her husband to Tokyo from Brazil two years ago, worked closely on all aspects of the mikvah construction.

“Working with the Japanese builders was very challenging. Everything in Japan is expensive, and building a mikvah here cost three times but it might cost somewhere else in the world,” said Tal.

Misunderstandings slowed progress. Without consulting with the architect or rabbis, the builders installed a drain in the floor of the mikvah, which invalidates it according to Jewish law. Removing the drain and repairing the floor delayed construction for weeks.

Finally, this past November, Posen came to make a final inspection, and pronounced the mikvah kosher. Now, all it needed was rainwater to fill its pools.

Some 75 members of the Tokyo Jewish community, along with shluchim and supporters from around Asia and Israel, turned out Wednesday evening to celebrate the mikvah’s official opening and dedication.

Rabbi Sudakevich spoke of his grandfather, Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Sudakevich, who passed away only a few days before the mikvah’s opening. Born in 1915, Zalman Sudakevich lived for many years in Russia, where he struggled to support Jewish communities under constant persecution by the Communist government. The first time his grandfather was arrested, Sudakevich said, was for building a mikvah.

Nissim Ben Shitrit, the Israeli ambassador to Japan, also addressed the crowd, calling the achievement of the mikvah “a miracle.” Avinoam Nahmani, a longtime community member, said the mikvah was a “distinct milestone for our community.” Rabbi Shlomo Raskin, director of Beit Chana seminary in Tzfat, Israel, made a point of thanking each of the Sudakeviches’ six children for their hard work as well.

Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Hong Kong, who opened the first Chabad House in Asia 25 years ago, shared a traditional Chinese story about a poor, old woman who carries water from a well everyday in a leaky bucket, which she is too destitute to repair. She weeps each day as much of the water she hauls drips out. But one day, the old woman realizes that flowers and plants have sprouted along the path she travels, nourished by the water she spilled. Rabbi Avtzon likened the woman’s back-breaking work and bitter tears to the Sudakeviches’ struggles in Japan, and the blooming flowers to the beauty of the Jewish community they have sown and nurtured.

After Levy cut the ribbon across the mikvah’s entrance, the crowd burst into singing and dancing. Rabbi Hertsel Simantov then affixed the mezuzah on the mikvah’s door. Rabbi Simantov, who is also a medical doctor, has lived in Japan for 24 years and works in the kashrut industry and as a mohel. Having a mikvah in Tokyo, he says, “is like moving from a basement apartment to the penthouse.”

Finally, Levy pulled a purple veil off the plaque bearing the mikvah’s name: Mikvah Mordechai, in memory of Mr. Levy’s father.

Guests took a peek at the elegantly appointed mikvah facility, which includes a marble-tiled preparation room. Luxurious spa products, gifts from Mr. Levy’s cosmetics store, Laline, lined the shelves.

After the ceremony, the women gathered for a discussion group with Dini Greenberg, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Shanghai, China. Greenberg spoke of building the first mikvah in Shanghai seven years ago, and shared insights about marriage and the mitzvot of taharat hamishpacha, the Jewish laws of family purity. Guests then enjoyed a festive meal with a pan-Asian menu, including spring rolls, glazed chicken, yakisoba, and, of course, sushi.

Chana Sudakevich shared her dream for the brand-new mikvah: “I hope we’ll have so many people coming to use the mikvah, we’ll have to build another one!”