The Mikveh - Water, Threshold, and Covenant Passage Water does something to you. Stand at the bank of a river long enough and you feel it — the weight, the sound, the indifference. It does not negotiate. It does not wait for you to be ready. You can step in or stay on the bank, but the river moves either way. The Hebrew Bible and later Jewish tradition both recognize this pattern. The mikveh (מִקְוֵה, literally a 'gathering' or 'collection' of water) is not, at root, a metaph