Our story begins a little over one year ago, on Erev Pesach 5778. Rabbi Pinchas (Pini) Zaklas and his wife, shluchim of the Rebbe to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, were in a huge bind. They were overjoyed that after much effort, financial and emotional, they managed to complete the massive project that they had undertaken with the building of a five story Jewish Center, which now stood proudly in the city of their shlichus.
The prevailing custom among chassidim is to immerse in a mikvah every day before davening (with the exception of Yom Kippur and Tish’ah B’av), and especially on Erev Shabbos and Shabbos, as well as Erev Yom Tov and Yom Tov. There are sources indicating that there were those who had a custom of going every third day, so as not to go three days without mikvah, and some who had the custom of going Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Shabbos.
This is what the architect Rabbi Shmuel Levin calls himself, a chassid who has visited every continent to help in the construction of mikvaos. In a fascinating interview, he tells several moving stories about mikveh constructions in remote locations throughout the world. In addition, he speaks about his own journey to Yiddishkait and the amazing Divine Providence he experienced at the Alter Rebbe’s holy gravesite and at the Rebbe Rashab’s mikveh.
A few weeks ago, a very special and most unusual event took place in the remote Indian village of Hampi. Numerous shluchim and tourists attended a most impressive and moving ceremony to dedicate an elegant new mikveh, recently completed after two and a half years of tireless work and determination. Rabbi Mordechai (Motti) Grumach and his wife, Libby, the Rebbe MH”M’s shluchim in Hampi, spared no effort. They endured many difficulties and pitfalls until they were privileged to complete this blessed and extraordinary building project.
June 21, 2019