Age-old mikve may be Brazil’s earliest Jewish vestige
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Historians are investigating whether a 17th-century bath found in Brazil’s first capital city is the country’s oldest evidence of a Jewish presence.
The bath was discovered 10 years ago inside an old hotel located in Pelourinho, the historic center area of Salvador, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.
According to the facility’s manager, an Orthodox Jew first raised the hypothesis that the bathtub might actually be a mikveh, or a ritual bath.
“I didn’t know what a mikveh was, but this information indeed matches the fact that there were many New Christians here in the historic center area, in Bahia state, in the Brazilian northeastern region,” Bruno Guinard told news portal G1, referring to the Jews who were forced or chose to convert to Christianity in the 15th century to save their lives, but kept their Jewishness in secrecy.
The hotel is located next to the São Francisco Church, one of the country’s oldest religious temples. Brazil was a Portuguese colony until 1822. During this whole period, Judaism was forbidden by the Catholic Church, including the practice of using a ritual bath.
“A mikveh has the function of purification for women and is also used for conversions,” Miguel Kertzman, president of the Israelite Society of Bahia, told the news portal.
Researchers from universities in Bahia and São Paulo began to study the place a few years ago. A tank to collect water, located above the bathtub, reinforces the chances of it being a mikveh, which needs fresh running water, according to the Jewish tradition.