Sh'alah
If there is no mikveh available, may a woman immerse in a pool?
Chacham Ovadia Yosef rules that a rabbi may not allow people to commit a rabbinic prohibition even in such a case, where they will otherwise violate a Torah prohibition. Halacha does not become more flexible in response to the "intimidation" of those who are prepared to transgress Torah law if a rabbinic provision is not suspended. This principle is explicitly mentioned as well by R. Moshe Feinstein (Russia-New York, 1895-1986), in his work Iggerot Moshe (Yoreh Dei'a section, 52), where he writes that a rabbi may not allow a violation of halacha of any kind due to the threats of sinners that they will otherwise commit more grievous transgressions.
Chacham Ovadia added that issuing a ruling permitting the use of pools as a mikveh eliminates any incentive on the part of the community to construct a proper mikveh. For this reason, too, a rabbi must not issue such a ruling, and should rather insist that the community take it upon itself to construct a valid mikveh.
From the Daily Halacha by R. Eli J. Mansour
Caught between hammer and anvil
G-d's very first commandment to us is to "be fruitful and multiply." (בראשית א כ"ז). This even before He told us not to eat of the "tree of knowledge."
The absolute first commandment to ben adam - humankind.
We also are told that a woman who is "nidda" cannot be with her husband until she immerses herself in a "fountain or cistern" (Soncinco translation of Leviticus 11, V36.)
According to R. Mansour, "a mikveh must be constructed in such a way that rainwater falls directly into the mikveh. If the water is brought to the mikveh from somewhere else, either through human involvement or a piping system, it is invalid."
I have never seen a mikveh open to the heavens (except for a lake or ocean).
I HAVE seen a great many swimming pools open to the heavens.
But back to the original problem.
If a woman must visit a mikveh before she can visit her husband, she could never become pregnant, thereby cancelling out HaShem's first commandment to us, to "be fruitful and multiply."
I concur with Ovadia that allowing women to immerse in their own chlorinated pools probably would discourage them from pressing for a local mikveh.
But rather than a rabbi - or even many rabbis - having the chutzpah to cancel HaShem's first commandment to humankind, it seems to be a better approach would be to make a mikveh desirable - and affordable - place for a woman to visit.
There are, I'm told, some classy mikvot where the visitors are treated royally. There are, admittedly, many that are dark and encourage a quick in-and-out. And, more and more, there are some "in between" mikvot - clean with a courteous attendant who, when necessary, provides information in a tactful way to newcomers and to those long-away from the mitzvah.
At the same time, rabbis - and knowledgeable rabbis' wives - need to educate the ladies that the mikveh is not for "cleanliness," although it has that benefit.
Telling a "modern" woman that she must travel perhaps a very long distance to a dirty mikveh possibly in a "not nice" section of town won't convince many women to make the effort.
Telling them they cannot use their pool - do they immerse completely unclothed as required? - without offering something more attractive is a waste of rabbinical time for most women, at least in the U.S.
Telling them they cannot approach their husband until they visit the mikveh likewise will result in most women ignoring the rabbi.
Some time ago I learned that a rabbinical fiat that the people ignore is no longer law.
I know the rabbis disagree with that, even though it came from one of their own. One told me "we took the law" which, by extension, he meant, "and you - simple Jew - will do as we say." The absolute arrogance of the man.
R. Ovadia has a large following, as does R. Monsour, and R. Feinstein's reputation is acknowledged worldwide.
But this time . . .
The Iraqi may be right that a woman should prefer the mikveh to a backyard pool, but I think his approach is wrong and the rabbinical gall to overrule a Torah law must have HaShem shaking his head in bewilderment - "Why are they doing this to me after I told them not to go to the left or to the right?"
