by Miriam Karp

As a world renowned mikvah expert, the multi talented Rabbi Gershon Grossbaum of Minnesota combines extensive rabbinic knowledge of the Talmudic texts with practical plumbing, masonry and carpentry applications. His job description could read: Shovel wielding, master plumber and site engineer, ancient text researcher and marriage enhancer.

The recent growth of Chabad Centers in the most distant places has prompted a major building boom of new mikvahs in the most unexpected locations.

The mikvah is a pool of water specially designed for ritual immersion with exacting specifications. It is a complex system of water source and delivery that connects a minimum 200 gallons of municipal water with natural pristine “living” waters required by the Jewish family purity laws, that brings holiness, blessing, balance and rhythm to Jewish life and intimacy. A biblical commandment of singular beauty, it enhances married life based on the woman's cycle.

Contemporary mikvah construction projects range from the luxurious spa-like $12 million mikvah in tony Manhattan's Upper West Side, to a very simple utilitarian model in India.

Rabbi Grossbaum has worked on all kinds of mikvahs in all kinds of places and conditions, as an on site director or as a distant consultant. He is available to answer multitudes of pre or post construction mikvah queries around the clock from around the world.

Indeed, this interview with Rabbi G was interrupted by several calls, in one of which I overheard Rabbi G respond, "Listen, your mikvah is 100% kosher. We can probably run a feeder near the top of the stairs… send me an e-mail picture of your mikvah so I can see again exactly what it looks like. Are your stairs under the window?"

Rabbi Grossbaum’s broad experience has helped him develop a vital pool of knowledge - seamlessly blending Torah law with the savvy of applying it to actual building materials and aesthetics, each mikvah with its unique land or financial constraints.

Rabbi Grossbaum was a young Rabbi in S. Paul in 1973. A Mrs. Goldberg called, asking him to host her kosher granddaughter and her husband. They were stopping in to visit her on their way to Seattle, where they would catch a military plane for his new job as an Air Force Chaplain in Alaska.

“During supper, our guest Rabbi Yisrael Haber discussed the challenges he anticipated serving the “Frozen Chosen” up near the Arctic Circle. He mentioned that the government would build a mikvah at the base, but needed plans and someone to show them how it is done. I had just helped install a local mikvah a few months earlier, so I thought: 'Hey, Alaska is a neat place to visit - that would be exciting.'

The Alaskan Mikvah experience eventually led to a unique career that would make Rabbi Grossbaum a frequent flyer, with many thousands of miles annually.

Rabbi Haber recalls in his book, A Rabbi's Northern Adventure, “Rabbi G met with the major and Sergeant of the Engineering Corps. He unfolded his plan on a graph paper, and spoke in technical terms explaining the details of mikvah construction. When Rabbi Grossbaum finished his presentation, the engineers seemed very surprised. They had apparently misheard Mrs. Haber's initial request, thinking that she needed a “mixer.” How difficult could it be to install a Jewish mixer, they figured!

Filling the Alaskan mikvah with water during the arctic winter presented a challenge. Seventy dump trucks gathered snow cleared from airstrip runways and, directed by Rabbi Grossbaum, hauled their snow to the side of the Chapel, right into the seven foot deep mikvah resevoir. A large heater melted the snow, until it was properly filled with the required natural water.

Word got out that Rabbi G was a mikvah maven. "Now that I had a little experience under my belt, Rabbi Shmotkin in Milwaukee asked for help, followed by Rabbi Greenberg in El Paso. I consulted constantly with experts in Jewish law, and was guided step by step. I've since built Mikvahs from Anchorage to Miami, to San Diego, Maine, Montreal, Costa Rica, Melbourne, Casablanca, and many other points in the FSU, Ukraine, Europe and Asia."

One of his more adventurous missions was constructing a secret mikvah in Moscow in 1986, before communism fell, when Jewish observance was illegal and persecuted.

"The Ezras Achim organization that supported the valiant underground Jewish community asked me to build a clandestine mikvah in a small historic 18th century shul (since renovated into the modern, multi storied Marina Roscha Synagogue and Jewish Community Center).

When applying for a visa to Russia, I had business cards printed in which I claimed to be an electrical estimator. I traveled as a tourist with Rabbi Eli Silverstein, now in Ithaca, NY.

Upon arrival, the first of many challenges was getting through customs. We brought along Jewish books for the community, and I had spent hours bending and ripping page edges, spilling coffee and crushing the covers, so the books would appear well-worn personal property, rather than for distribution.

I also had 3 dozen diaper pants, since their lack of availability made infant care much more onerous. Also wrapped in the diaper pants were contraband tefilin and mezuzos. Fortunately, the authorities just assumed I was a neurotic and meticulous traveler.

Rabbi Silverstein and I were 50th in a line of 80, but the customs officers opened up a new line for us. Were they suspicious? Luckily, I was saved by the fact that I was utterly exhausted from the 48 sleepless hours of travel. Five trained guards watched our expressions as they searched our suitcases. They didn't see us flinch or bat an eye - we were simply too exhausted and numb to react with any emotion!

I came to the Marina Roscha bedecked with cameras, looking like a regular tourist. But as a tourist I couldn't stay there in the shul all day. I had to confer with my handlers - the guys doing the building and coordinating, and also left to see the sights.

It was a challenge to get the necessary materials to build the mikvah. An order for cement would raise eyebrows, so our friends flagged down a concrete truck for a ride - a common practice - and nimbly dropped a generous twenty rubles on the seat. They casually asked the driver if he had some extra concrete. Smiling at the tip and anticipating more, he indeed had cement to spare, and backed the truck up to the shul. The irony - that concrete was owned by the KGB and on route to one of their jobs. So, our mikvah was graced with KGB concrete!"

Rabbi Grossbaum derives great satisfaction from helping countless Jewish families, many in lonely isolated communities, by making this beautiful mitzvah accessible.

For more information, visit mikvah.org