November 11, 2019

Beautiful beaches, mild weather and other attractions bring some fourteen million tourists a year to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – a city with a population of just over 30,000.

Myrtle Beach counts a small but vibrant local Jewish community, comprised primarily of Sephardic Israeli immigrants.  There is an active local Chabad, daily minyanim and a kosher restaurant. There is also a local Hebrew Day School, which offers free tuition for any Jewish child!

Still, taharah observance was a struggle. Nearly a decade ago, Rabbi Doron Aizenman, who has led Myrtle Beach Chabad for three decades, began working to build a beautiful new local mikvah – confident that observance could double or more, b’ezras Hashem. Rabbi Aizenman thus reached out to Mikvah USA, whose team got to work immediately. After years of seemingly endless toil, a beautiful new mikvah is open, on the same campus as the new Shul and Day School.

A cross section of Myrtle Beach’s Jews gathered for a festive Chanukas Habayis. Their smiles and tears brought to the fore that what was built here goes well beyond brick and mortar. The future of Myrtle Beach will iy”H be marked by more taharah; more Torah; more chinuch; more pure yiddishe generations!

Tellingly, while Myrtle Beach celebrated, Mikvah USA simultaneously celebrated the Chanukas Habayis of the beautiful new mikvah in Old Westbury, NY, some 700 miles away. These new mikvaos brought to “82” the number of mikvaos across North America completed with the help of Mikvah USA be”H.