(crossposted to Open-Minded Mikveh) and its attendant Facebook group)

More good news, via eJewishPhilanthropy.com--a community mikveh for El Paso, to supplement the one at the (Conservative) Congregation B'nai Zion. See the article here.

Don't get me wrong, I am (obviously) in favor of more liberal mikvaot. But just like I'd rather see Chabad build a simple mikveh in a place without any mikveh, rather than a gorgeous one in a place with other pools, I'd rather see Bronfman et al. give money to build a community mikveh in a place with zero mikvaot period (Idaho?), or zero liberal mikvaot (New Jersey?).

The "spa" experience may be a significant part of the selling point, but there's spa and there's spa. I have not been to Mayyim Hayyim, but I've been to the stunning East and West Side mikvehs in NYC, and they were not built for free. I think a "simple, cozy, and spiritual" aesthetic might interest just as many women if it were marketed right.

I wouldn't be surprised, with no disrespect at all to B'nai Zion, if the existing mikveh is not the most uplifting, if in fact it actually functions. If Edgar could give them money to renovate theirs, too, then that would be great.

Apparently the Ortho. community in El Paso is quite right-wing, whatever that means for West Texas.