A dip in the men’s mikva at Chabad’s Upper East Side center located at 419 E. 77th Street in Manhattan almost proved extremely dangerous for a synagogue regular who was sucked into the mikva’s uncovered ‘black hole’ and had to rescued by the fire department.
Above: mikva (file photo)
Elderly Man Sucked Into Chabad Mikva’s ‘Black Hole”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A dip in the men’s mikva at Chabad’s Upper East Side center located at 419 E. 77th Street in Manhattan almost proved extremely dangerous for a synagogue regular who was sucked into the mikva’s uncovered ‘black hole.’
The 76-year-old man escaped with only a suspected broken leg and is now being treated in a hospital.
DNAinfo reported that Chabad officials said the man’s legs were trapped in a shaft that feeds water into the synagogue’s ritual pool – a shaft the FDNY, who rescued the man, reportedly said is 3-feet-wide-by-3-foot-deep.
That shaft is normally closed, but because the pool was being cleaned, it was open at the time of the accident, fire officials reportedly said.
However, it is far more likely the man’s legs were either trapped in a hole that allows water to drain from the mikva so the mikva’s walls can been cleaned – when left uncovered, similar drains in swimming pools have killed small children and maimed adults – or that he slipped into the mikva's lower reservoir. But if the latter is true, he should not have been trapped or stuck in the hole, especially because of its large size.
At about 9:30 am the unidentified man's legs slipped into the shaft and trapped him as he tried to immerse.
The man screamed for help for help. Chabad center members found him and called 911, a member told the news website.
It took 15 minutes for the FDNY to free him. Once he was removed from the mikva he was transported to a nearby hospital with a possible broken leg, FDNY chief Mark Rosenbaum reportedly said.