The IDF currently maintains an estimated 25 mikvaot across its bases.
By Hezy Laing
The IDF is the only army in the world to maintain a network of purification baths for its soldiers.
Currently the IDF maintains an estimated 25 mikvaot across its bases.
They are concentrated on large training centers, bases with significant religious populations, and long‑stay installations where soldiers remain for extended periods.
Some are permanent, fully built structures; others are smaller or modular facilities overseen by the Military Rabbinate.
As religious enlistment continues to rise, new mikvaot are added periodically to meet the needs of soldiers who rely on them for spiritual preparation and continuity.
The history of mikvaot in the Israel Defense Forces stretches back to the earliest years of the state, when the newly formed IDF Rabbinate recognized the need to support religious soldiers serving far from home.
Shortly after the Rabbinate’s establishment in 1948, the first ritual baths were constructed on major training bases during the 1950s under the leadership of Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the IDF’s first Chief Rabbi.
These early facilities were modest but essential, allowing observant soldiers to maintain halachic practices even during long deployments.
By the 1960s, mikvaot had become standard on several large bases, particularly those hosting the first Hesder yeshiva units, whose soldiers combined Torah study with military service.
As the religious Zionist community grew within the IDF, so did the infrastructure supporting it. The most significant expansion, however, came decades later.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the IDF began integrating larger numbers of religious and eventually Haredi soldiers, including the establishment of Netzah Yehuda (Nahal Haredi).
This shift created a new demand for mikvaot across the military, prompting the construction of many of the facilities still in use today.
This long historical arc reached a new milestone recently with the inauguration of a state‑of‑the‑art mikvah on an IDF base near the Gaza border—the first ever built inside an active combat zone in the area.
Established by Ezer LaChayal and led by Chairman Eliyahu Gutman, the project was launched after commanders and chaplains identified a growing need among soldiers stationed there.
Despite the complexities of building within a high‑risk environment, construction was completed within weeks, resulting in a fully halachically compliant facility.
Since opening, the mikvah has become a spiritual anchor for hundreds of soldiers—religious, Haredi, Chabad, and even those not previously observant—who immerse before heading out on missions.
Supported by the Benjaminson family of Crown Heights and dedicated in memory of fallen soldiers, the new mikvah symbolizes both continuity and resilience, extending a tradition that began in the IDF’s earliest days to the front lines of today’s security challenges.
