Time: 1905 // Place: Bielsk, a small Jewish village in Poland // Theme: Women’s Rage Against The Patriarchy.
Twenty-year-old Rachel arrives at the ritual bathhouse -- the mikvah -- for the first time to purify herself in the mikvah’s sacred waters before she is married. Chava, the mikvah attendant, greets her warmly and introduces her to the strict rituals around the immersion that every married Orthodox woman must do every month. Chava, 35, is illiterate, clumsy and softhearted – a bear of a woman, as she describes herself. The two feel a bond, as Chava’s mother was the healer who gave herbs to Rachel’s mother during her pregnancy to help her keep her baby. Sadly, Rachel’s mother died in childbirth. Rachel was raised by a single parent, her scholarly and adoring father. He educated her far beyond what was customary for the girls of Bielsk.
Rachel is happy with her father and has no desire to be married to the rich merchant who is captivated by her beauty. Once married, she refuses to become the submissive wife that Reb Gottlieb demands. Rachel turns to her doting father for help, but he does nothing. He tells Rachel she belongs to her husband now. Rachel is devastated. Her beloved Papa has betrayed her and goes to Chava for comfort. In order to give herself a reason to come to the mikvah every day, Rachel decides to teach Chava to read. She brings one of her childhood books, a children’s geography of the world, to the mikvah. Reb Gottlieb, enraged when Rachel insists on continuing her studies, throws out all of her beloved books.
At the mikvah, Chava tells Rachel about her mother, who Rachel never knew and about whom her father refuses to speak. Rachel feels closer and closer to Chava. She admires Chava’s generosity – always giving food to Schlomo, the beggar, even when Chava sometimes has very little to eat herself. Rachel, who has never been interested in men, falls in love with Chava and wants a physical relationship with her. Chava resists at first, but then succumbs. Rachel starts coming daily to the mikvah, supposedly for Chava’s reading lessons. Rachel rushes in one day, very upset; the Rabbi’s wife looked at her as if she knew about the affair. Chava assures her that the Rebbitsen is a good friend and there’s no reason to worry – and reveals that, the Rebbitsen was once “more than a friend.” Rachel is at first crushed that Chava has had a previous love. But then she rejoices when she realizes their love affair will be protected from exposure by the powerful Rebbitsen, who basically runs Bielsk.
Rachel enters the mikvah in pain. Reb Gottlieb has punched her in the stomach with all his might, infuriated that she doesn’t want to become pregnant. Chava, outraged, grabs a knife to go and kill Rachel’s husband right then, but Rachel calms her down. They discuss the possibility of Rachel getting pregnant – which is her duty as a wife. Besides her hatred for her husband, Rachel dreads pregnancy because her mother died in childbirth. Chava, who has always wanted a child, assures Rachel that she faces little risk compared to her very fragile and sickly mother. Chava dreams of Rachel having a baby, even imagining it as “their” baby. Rachel mocks her delusion. Rachel’s dream is to leave the village entirely. Her life at home is a nightmare. But Chava feels bound to the mikvah, where she found safety and a home after her mother disappeared.
Chava is in a panic when Rachel arrives at the mikvah. Schlomo the beggar has observed the two lovers embracing through a hole he has cut in the wall to peep at the mikvah activities. He is threatening to tell Rachel’s husband unless he gets a sizeable amount of money. Rachel reassures Chava that she has access to suffient funds to pay off Schlomo and rushes off to get the money. In the next scene, the two are returning from meeting Schlomo. Besides money, Schlomo demanded to have sex with Rachel. He attempted to rape her. Chava, in a rage, killed him. Chava is distraught that she killed her friend, although she did it to protect her love. Rachel assures her that she’s grateful for Chava’s protection. She reassures Chava that no one will miss Schlomo or find the body in the deep ravine where they left it. Rachel again tries to convince Chava to leave Bielsk and flee with her to the big city, Kovno. But Chava still cannot imagine living anywhere but in the back room of the mikvah: “I am only Chava when I am here.”
It is the middle of the night. Rachel pounds on the door to wake Chava up. Her husband hit her again in the stomach. But this time, Rachel knew she was pregnant. She was furious that he might have injured the baby who she now thinks of as hers and Chava’s. She gave Reb Gottlieb an overdose of a sleeping potion in his nightly glass of milk, and he has died. Finally, Chava realizes that they must flee to the big city. If they stay, Rachel will be arrested and perhaps even executed. Chava must organize their immediate departure because Rachel is exhausted and overwhelmed by what she has done. She packs a few clothes and the well-used geography book. With Rachel leaning on her for physical support, Chava bids an emotional goodby to the birch trees outside the mikvah door, the trees that she has loved and tended for twenty years. They exit together to their new life.
