Our generation grew up with the possibility of complete and final annihilation overtaking us without warning, and this looming danger has become a "natural" part of our generation's outlook on the world.
Conceived in the shadow of a mushroom cloud, born into a world of nuclear threat, nourished on radioactive strontium, we accept the idea of mass annihilation with Olympian calm. Life is threatened with a loss of clear perspective, a loss of significance and value. If we do not make a conscious effort to change the atmosphere and create a new reality filled with true values, we will doom our children to breathe in this poison: contempt for life and indifference to death. If we do not hurry, leaving "nature to take its course," we will condemn our sons and daughters to follow their own paths until they arrive, helpless, at the threshold of an atomic catastrophe. And indeed, what moral values can people have when they live under the constant threat of annihilation? Why love, respect, or hope if you must always be prepared for mass extermination? What is the point of parents, a home, and children if tomorrow our end will come and we will turn into one common mass of radioactive ash?
The Jewish home and faith in the profound spiritual significance of the Jewish way of life form the cradle in which the "sanctity of life" is nurtured.
Love of life and respect for its lofty intrinsic values are an inseparable part of the atmosphere of Jewish life. A Jewish child learns—not only through words, but also through actions and example—that Jews do not hunt; Jews' aversion to bloodthirstiness is so great that before cooking meat, they remove every trace of blood from it, soaking it in water and then sprinkling it with salt… Jews treat all living things with compassion—the sanctification of life is a paramount principle of the Torah.
Parents must create a nurturing atmosphere in the family so that their children become imbued with a sense of reverence for life—a life rich in substance and meaning.
We must be selfless in realizing the lofty Jewish ideals bound up with the very essence of life, meticulous in observing Jewish law, and neglect not even the smallest detail—we must follow halachah with complete trust in Jewish ordinances.
Thus, as we have tried to show, the law of family purity reflects the joy of the Jewish affirmation of life and the aversion to death and suffering.
Through the symbolism of "living water," the mikveh offers a Jew the possibility of a beautiful beginning to a human life filled with love.
The time to act has already come; we cannot put it off until tomorrow. We must endow the children we bring into this world, where life is in constant danger, not only with physical existence but also with the spiritual vitality embodied and awakened by observing the law of family purity and all the other commandments of the Torah.
For Jews, affirming life is an educational process. It is extremely important to begin it in time, without waiting until the child reaches school age. The affirmation of life must precede the child's conception: observance of the law of family purity, which teaches the Jewish way of life and love of life, must begin before another life has begun.
Afterword
A few fundamental principles have been set out above to explain to the reader the meaning of the body of rules governing the purity of the Jewish family, sanctified by the Torah and tradition—vitally necessary rules that sustain the eternal existence of the Jewish people and bring happiness and stability to the Jewish family.
The reader should not think that what has been said exhausts the subject we have touched upon, for it is as ancient as the people of Israel themselves, and the sanctity inseparable from it is the same as the sanctity of Shabbat, the Day of Atonement, or the laws of kashrut—a subject in which the exalted ideas of the sanctity of time and of life itself are bound together.
If the reader has found something in this book close to his heart, let him not put it aside, agreeing or objecting, as though he had merely satisfied his curiosity.
The future of every Jew's marriage and the eternal survival of Judaism are too important to permit a halfhearted attitude toward them.
The experience accumulated by the Jewish people confirms the logical principle that all religious ordinances will prove meaningless unless they are put into practice with genuine zeal and devotion.
The author offers prayers to the Creator and hopes that the reader will feel this book's influence and continue reflecting on the questions it raises, and furthermore, that he will begin observing the laws of family purity, encourage others to follow his example, and, together with the members of his community, do everything necessary to establish the conditions required for the observance of these laws.