The Village of Great Neck's Board of Zoning and Appeals is holding a continuing public hearing on an application to construct a stand-alone mikveh on Wood Road. Its next meeting will be on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m.

A mikveh, which means a "gathering of waters," is a ritual pool for immersion that is primarily used by a Jewish woman after the completion of her menstrual cycle and prior to the re-engagement of physical intimacy with her husband. Traditionally, a mikveh may also be used as a ritual immersion at the final stage of conversion to Judaism, by brides and grooms before marriage, and by men before important holidays.

Ohr Haemeth, the American Society for Torah Education for Latin America, Ltd., in conjunction with the current property owners, are asking for a conditional use permit for a religious use. The properties at 48, 50, and 52 Wood Road that are under contract would be combined with the property owned by Ohr Haemeth at 112 Steamboat Road. The building has been designed by Bahary Architecture.

Two houses on the lots would be demolished. The application seeks five variances.

The proposed 6,157 square foot building would contain three mikveh pools, 12 showers/toilets and dressing rooms, a bridal suite, a "beautification" room, a laundry room and a reception area on the main floor. Only married Jewish women or bridal parties would be allowed to use the facility. It would not be used for conversions or for men under any circumstances.

There would be no fee for use of the facility, but there would be a suggested donation of $18.

Two residential apartments, one with two bedrooms and one with one bedroom, would be located on the second floor of the building. The square footage of the main floor would be 4,158 and the square footage of the second floor would be 1,999.

The residential two-family apartments would be for a female attendant for the mikveh and for a rabbi. The applicants, represented by Murray Honig, Esq., state that a live-in attendant is required so "emergency mikvehs" may be available 24/7. They also state that a supervising rabbi needs to be available on site as well.

The area is currently zoned a Residential D District which does not permit a two-family residence. The second variance requested involves insufficient street frontage on Wood Road. Two hundred feet are required; the property has 159 feet. The third variance sought does not meet the front yard street frontage requirement, only providing 20-feet instead of the required 35-feet. The fourth request is to waive the landscaping requirements and set back requirements for the driveway from the side property line. The last variance pertains to a requirement for a buffer from a residential use, by not providing the required 6-foot fence and 15-foot buffer.

The mikveh would operate on a reservation only basis and it is estimated that no more than 20 women would be served during regular hours daily, which would run from sunset to 11 p.m.

The mikveh, along with a 20-space parking lot, would be sited adjacent to the Great Neck Park District's tennis courts on Wood Road.

At the March 6 Board of Zoning and Appeals (BZA) meeting, members of the community were given an opportunity to ask questions about the mikveh. Attorney for the applicant, Steven Schlesinger, bristled at the questions and raised the spectre of the Religious Land Use Act. Chairman Dennis Grossman noted that it is the responsibility of the board to ask questions and that the board has an "outstanding record" in relation to religious land use.

Residents noted the dangerous traffic conditions on Wood Road currently that the mikveh might exacerbate, whether it was in fact a commercial venture to draw people from outside Great Neck, and whether the water usage might be excessive.

The estimate for water usage is 465 gallons per night if showers are limited to 5 minutes. The water for the mikveh is filtered and is drained once a year. A call to the Nassau County Health Department's spokesperson Cynthia Brown resulted in learning that the department does not oversee or regulate mikvehs.

A number of eyebrows were raised at the concept of an "emergency mikveh." We asked Rebbitzin Avigail Shaliehsaboo, who attended the public hearing, to give examples of when a need for an emergency mikveh would arise. She cited only one. The rebbitzin said that if a woman were out of town on her "mikveh day" and was not able to visit during regular hours, she would need the ritual bath to be made available for her after hours.

The Record left messages twice for Rabbi Howard Stecker of Temple Israel; Rabbi Dale Polakoff at Great Neck Synagogue, and Rabbi Lerner of Young Israel. The assistant rabbi at Young Israel did return our call, but could not speak on the record. None of the other rabbis returned our calls.

Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth El Jerome Davidson did return our call. He spoke with other scholars at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and called back to say, "There is no foundation for emergency mikvehs in either Jewish law or practice." According to Rabbi Davidson, a rabbi does not supervise a mikveh on a daily basis.

Currently, there are two mikvehs in Great Neck and one under construction. There is a mikveh located at Great Neck Synagogue and one located at Shira Chadasha, near CVS in the Old Village. A shul with a mikveh included is being built on Middle Neck Road at Allenwood in an unincorporated area. It is more typical for mikvehs to be located onsite as an adjunct to synagogues.

A representative from Shira Chadasha said that it was important to provide mikvehs within walking distance on the Sabbath because of the "changing demographics of the community." He also said that mikvehs were not moneymakers and were usually financially supplemented by the religious community.

The board has asked the applicants to reconsider the site placement of the facility to avoid having an entrance on Wood Road, but concerns were raised by supporters of the application about the privacy of the women being lessened if the entrance was on Steamboat Road.

The public is invited to the next zoning board meeting on the application which is set for April 3 at 7:30 at village hall at 61 Baker Hill Road.