Mei Menachem Western Well Gets a Facelift

Mei Menachem Western Well Gets a Facelift

Have you seen the new garden in front of the Mei Menachem Western Well Mikvah?  Did you notice the fresh new coat of paint in the front?  Recently there have been a few important updates and repairs at the mikvah.  In the last six and a half years since the mikvah opened its doors, it has always been well cared for.  If you would come in at any time, the place would always be clean and beautiful.  However, over the course of the years, with the wear and tear caused by weather, water usage, and simply the passage of time, some things needed a little extra attention. With funds as tight as they are, it wasn't certain how some repairs would happen.        

But G-d has His wonderful messengers.  Dena Judah was bringing some supplies into the mikvah and happened to notice some damaged wood in a small area of the front exterior wall which was most likely affected by excess rain water.  She noticed that the garden was overgrown and not as lovely as it once was.   Also, one of the showers in the men's mikvah would leak down to the basement.  Dena right away organized some handymen to come over and give their bids for the work that needed to be done and within a short time everything was taken care of.  Yaasher Koach to Ralph and Dena Judah for sponsoring the updates and repairs.   

Now About the Garden... 

Over six years ago when the mikvah was brand new, it needed some landscaping in the front. Linda Kopans and her daughter Susan Copen-Holtey, a professional and creative gardener offered to donate some plants and many flowers as well as their time and effort to create a garden for the Mikvah frontage.  Susan's husband, John Holtey, helped tremendously as well.  What an array of beautiful plants and flowers that adorned the Mikvah!  Every year they would come by and spend time on weeding and whatever needed to be done to keep the garden growing nicely.  And for so many years it continued to look beautiful.  Thanks again to Linda Kopans, Sue and John. 

More recently, however, there were some suggestions that maybe it was time for a change. Perhaps we should be considering a new low maintenance landscape.   Thanks to Dena Judah this became a reality.  We started researching which plants would stay beautiful without too much maintenance.  We consulted with our dear friends, Richard and Judith Gutman, professional gardeners and landscape designers.  Judith made some valuable suggestions and went shopping with Dena.  They decided on some evergreens to create a more formal look for the Mikvah.  As for the flowers Judith said to me, "we've got to enhance the place with the calling of the place".   Since the mikvah is a place that represents purity, we should keep away from lots of colors and stick with mostly whites.  Here and there we might add one or two colors - but we really need to keep it pure. Something we hadn't even considered at the time - that I realized after a very busy month with June brides - was how perfectly the whites also fit with the bridal theme.   

And who actually planted the garden?   Dena did the bulk of the planting.  We also had a few helpers here and there during that day of planting.  Thank you also to Joe Holzman, Saul Berelowitz, and Joanie Ashe who all helped in some way.   

May Hashem bless all those who help and support the mikvah - the most important institution in the Jewish community. 

Wishing you well from the Western Well!

Chanie