Although a mikvah needs living water, the floods that hit Mikvah Chana last summer weren’t spiritual — they were destructive. The mikvah, located at Chabad House, continues to function, but it needs some serious repairs to fix walls, destroyed cabinets and more.
The August floods hit Chabad House’s main building at 6201 Indian Creek Drive very hard as well, causing significant damage. The difference between the two is that the main building was insured. The mikvah, in a separate building, carried no flood insurance.
“We had some community help. They power-washed and cleaned the mikvah, and it became functional again,” Blumah Wineberg said. “Chabad House is just now in the process of being repaired.”
It should be noted that the Jewish community has two mikvahs. In addition to Mikvah Chana, the Kansas City Community Mikvah is located at Kehilath Israel Synagogue.
“For a city our size, it is important to have two mikvahs. When one is in need of repair, women have access to the other,” Wineberg said.
Though volunteers were able to clean the silt and debris from the surfaces of Mikvah Chana following the flood, it’s only a temporary fix. Funds are needed to help with the more permanent fix, so a fundraising campaign is now underway and led by Dr. Steve Simon.
“The first flood was not so bad, and you could sort of live with that damage,” Dr. Simon said. But then the second flood came shortly after the first, and because everything was already so wet, the walls began crumbling and the counters that were underwater for an extended period now needed replacing.
After the second flood, the walls were covered with dirt from several feet of flood waters. Volunteers cleaned, drained, scrubbed and refilled the mikvah itself.
While he was cleaning walls, Dr. Simon said, a 3-foot by 1-foot chunk of wall simply crumbled and fell out because it was so damaged.
The building’s roof and gutters were already in need of repairs, so the additional flood damage hasn’t helped the situation.
Chabad’s building sits in the floodway part of a flood plain. That means there are restrictions on construction.
“In order to build a new building on the property, the area where the new building would be located would need to be removed from the floodway, probably by filling a portion of the land,” said Tony Meyers, manager of engineering services for the city of Overland Park.
It can be an expensive process, which requires a flood study and new flood maps to see if it’s even possible.
“Typically if fill is placed in the floodplain or floodway, a similar amount of earth would need to be removed elsewhere to maintain flood carrying capacity and not raise flood elevations on adjacent properties,” Meyers said.
Because of the restrictions and expense of going down that route, Chabad plans to repair the existing buildings.
Dr. Simon said that one way they will try to protect the mikvah from future damage is to separate the walls into two segments, one extending from the ceiling down to meet another rising from the floor. If the bottom part is damaged by flooding, they won’t have to replace the entire wall.
Despite the damage the mikvah sustained, “I’m proud to say it’s running, and it works, but there’s a whole lot of difference between ‘it works’ and ‘it’s what it should be,’ ” said Dr. Simon.
Both Dr. Simon and Wineberg emphasized the difference between a functional mikvah and one that fulfilled spiritual needs in the most beautiful manner.
“It shouldn’t just be, ‘OK, run and jump in the lake, dry off and you’re done.’ It should be an opportunity to experience a spiritual lift. You can’t do that, in my mind, the way the situation is now, where you have a building so badly in need of repair,” Dr. Simon said.
Wineberg agreed.
“It is kosher and being used, but it’s not up to par by any stretch of the imagination. We want to bring it back up to where it needs to be,” Wineberg said.
The idea is that a person using the mikvah “feels very pampered, and she feels very cared for. … We want to make it very welcoming for a Jewish woman,” she said.
Wineberg also said that, “in the past, Mikvah Chana was sought out by women in our community and beyond due to its feeling of warmth and beauty.”
The campaign Mikvah Chana is now launching has two prongs — education and fundraising.
“Bringing the knowledge of the beauty of mikvah to the attention of the younger generation is of primary importance,” Wineberg explained.
Their current fundraising goal is $71,000, according to Wineberg. As part of the campaign, she also hopes to encourage 71 new women to experience the beauty of mikvah.
Donations are tax deductible and can be made out to Mikvah Chana. To donate online, visit chabadkc.org/donation and click Mikvah Renovation; or send a check to Mikvah Chana, 10258 Glenwood St., Overland Park, KS, 66212.