My wife and I moved out on Shlichus to Colorado Springs in 2001. We serve the Southern half of the state where the Jewish population is much more spread out. Our city has a section of the population that is transient due to the military presence here. People will be stationed here for a while, and when their assignment is over they typically will not settle in Southern Colorado. We live about 60 miles from Denver where there is a strong Jewish presence and several mikvahs- so it wasnât in our initial plan to open a mikvah in Colorado Springs. However in 2007 there was a group of people who came out to our city for a business retreat and networking event that took place at a resort. There was a component of the group who were religious Jews and they reached out to me to assist with kashering one of the hotelâs kitchens. They also invited to join them at the hotel for Shabbat. While everyone was sitting and chatting after the Shabbat meal the idea was brought up that Colorado Springs should have a mikvah- and this group encouraged us to begin building along with their support; they pledged donations. The idea to build a mikvah in Colorado Springs was complete divine providence. I donât even rememberer how or where the idea came from. Their enthusiasm throughout the whole process fueled the vision for the mikvah until itâs completion and several constituents from the initial group of business people returned to Colorado Springs for the ground opening.
In 2008, around Rosh Hashanah time we actually filled up the Mikvah, it snows a lot here, and the snow has to melt and drips into the Mikvah to fill up the rain water portion of the Mikvah, six months later around Pesach 2009 the filing process was complete and we had a grand opening a few weeks later. According to Jewish law, building and maintaining a mikvah takes precedence over a shul and thatâs how it happened in CO springs. We were operating out of our home for many years, and now with the help of Hashem, we purchased a property and are in the process of transforming it into a beautiful Chabad house. There are a number of individuals and organizations to whom were instrumental in bringing the vision for our mikvah to life who we are extremely grateful, it was a tremendous group effort. We also benefited greatly from the assistance of Rabbi Katz who oversees the kashrut certification of many mikvahs, in addition to the halachic requirements he also assisted with the layout of our mikvah. And weâre also very grateful for the support of mikvah.org who were instrumental in assisting the repairs to our mikvah needed over the last few years.
This Year 5785, marks 50 years from when the Rebbe initiated the campaign of Taharas Hamishpacha, so the fact that we were able to build our mikvah and partake in a cause that the Rebbe was so enthusiastic about it is especially meaningful to us. The Rebbe viewed Mikvah as critical to the continuity of the Jewish nation and often highlighted the importance of mikvah when speaking about the legacies of his mother Rebbetzin Chana and wife Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka.