בס׳ד
כ׳ז אדר תש׳ף
March 23, 2020
Dear Friend,
We ask that you read the following message from the Rabbanim of Teaneck and Bergenfield carefully. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Dear Friends,
It is only due to the ever available guidance and encouragement of several senior medical experts and the remarkable dedication of the leadership and staff of our Mikvah that we, so very gratefully, continue to keep the Mikvah open to our community of women in a manner that ensures your safety and that of our staff alike. To be sure, the sanctity and the safety of our mikvah and all those who use it have been and remain our highest priority at all times, and especially, during these challenging weeks.
This message is sent with a profound sense of gratitude to the community for respecting the guidelines that have been issued to date, and with great confidence that our community will continue to be vigilant regarding these protocols.
We wish to remind the entire community, in unequivocal terms, that any woman who fits the following categories may NOT USE THE MIKVAH AT THIS TIME:
1) anyone exhibiting any flu like symptoms WITHIN THE PAST WEEK including fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, body aches and/or diarrhea,
2) Have you lost your sense of taste/smell (i.e., not had it) at any point in the last three days?
3) anyone testing positive for COVID-19, until receiving medical clearance that it is safe for her to leave home.
4) anyone under mandatory quarantine due to being in direct proximity (within six feet for ten minutes) to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 (i.e. within 14 days of contact with known COVID-19+), and certainly, anyone living with a family member who is COVID-19+.
Moreover, the Teaneck Mikvah is temporarily adjusting some of its protocols, on our direction, to further ensure that the Mikvah staff can manage the intensified cleaning regimen that has been instituted over the last number weeks, in the broader interest of the overall safety of the Mikvah:
1. The Mikvah is temporarily transitioning to an appointment only usage. Please make appointments here.
3. As discussed in the RCBC letter dated March 19th regarding social distancing, the shomeret will remain at a distance from each patron. Thus, each woman will be responsible to check herself to the best of her ability for anything that should be removed prior to tevilah. The shomeret will check places that are impossible for a woman to see herself (i.e. her back), but from a distance of six feet, and without direct physical contact of any kind. This temporary modification of sanctified minhag yisrael is one that we adopt as an expression of the overriding value of human life.
We wish to conclude by thanking the tireless leadership of the Teaneck Mikvah, and the supreme dedication of the entire Mikvah staff, at all times, and especially over these last weeks, in ensuring taharat ha-mishpacha in our community, in accordance with the highest standards of safety.
In the zchut of our very own nashim tzidkaniyot, may our community merit redemption during these challenging times,
Teaneck and Bergenfield Members of The Rabbinical Council of Bergen County