Water Facilities at the Synagogue

Around the turn of the era, the communal ritual bath (mikveh) became a common feature of Jewish communities. Many ancient community mikvaot were found in private dwellings, burial sites, or other public areas (in addition to those surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; see “Mikvaot in the Temple Complex”), though some synagogues had an adjacent mikveh. There was also a traditional preference for building the synagogue near a body of water, perhaps connected to a customary notion that prayers were better heard near water, as attested in Josephus’ account of a decree by the people of Halicarnassus, a city in Anatolia. This preference was also likely due to the use of some natural bodies of water as alternatives to constructed mikvaot.