New Book Presents Mikvah Use to Russian-Speaking Audience

Jewish community officials in the former Soviet Union hailed the publication of a book about mikvah use written entirely in Russian.

Entitled Mayim Chayim, or “Living Waters,” and written by Rabbi Michael and Sima Koritz, the book presents the laws of family purity in an easy to understand manner, said Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Boruch Gorin, editor of Moscow’s Lechaim Publishing House.

Gorin’s organization, a unit of the Federation of Jewish Community of the Former Soviet Union, joined with New York’s F.R.E.E. Publishing House to release the volume.

The advantage is that “this is a halachic book written in Russian,” said Gorin. Typically, “books of this nature are written in Yiddish or Hebrew first, and then translated into Russian.”

Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar joined Rabbis Zalman Kahn and Yisroel Barenbaum – all Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and members of the Rabbinical Alliance of the Former Soviet Union – in endorsing the book.

“The aim was to write a book for people who can learn Torah, as well as for people who know little about Yiddishkeit or how to read Hebrew,” elaborated Gorin. “This is a book that every Jewish family in Russia can read. They will find answers to all their questions about family purity.”