Colby Woodsmen Team member Zach McClimon carries a block of ice Sunday from a pond in Freeman Township. The Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Austin Thorndike uses a chain saw Sunday to cut a hole in the ice while harvesting ice from his family’s pond in Freeman Township. Members of Waterville’s Beth Israel Congregation, Colby Woodsmen Team members and others are shown in the background. The synagogue plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Austin Thorndike pulls a block of ice from his family pond Sunday as members of Watertville’s Beth Israel Congregation, Colby Woodsmen Team and others look on in Freeman Township. Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Rabbi Rachel Isaacs of Waterville’s Beth Israel Congregation, left, leads a blessing Sunday before harvesting ice with others at a pond in Freeman Township. Isaacs, left, is holding her daughter Nitzan Isaacs-Weiss, 9. The Beth Israel Congregation plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Colby Woodsmen Team members Tim Gatto, left, and other volunteers push a sled filled with blocks of ice up a snow ramp Sunday while harvesting ice from a pond in Freeman Township. Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Colby Woodsmen Team members and other volunteers push a sled filled with blocks of ice up a snow ramp Sunday at a pond in Freeman Township. Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Blocks of ice are slid toward a snow packed ramp Sunday after it was harvested at a pond in Freeman Township. The Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Blocks of ice await loading by volunteers who harvested about 3 tons Sunday from a pond in Freeman Township. The Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Colby Woodsmen Team members Tim Gatto, left, and Cameron Rogers load blocks of ice harvested Sunday from a pond in Freeman Township.
Austin Thorndike, center, unloads a block of ice Sunday at Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville. Thorndike and volunteers harvested about 3 tons of ice from Thorndike’s family pond in Freeman Township. The Beth Israel Congregation plans to use the ice in a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Colby Woodsmen Team members Tim Gatto, center, and other team members unload blocks of ice Sunday at Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville. The ice, harvested from a pond in Freeman Township is to be used for the Beth Israel Congregation community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Lior Klein, 9, wipes excess water from a block of ice his mother, Jordan Namerow, carried Sunday to the mikvah at Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville. The pair and other volunteer harvested the ice from a pond in Freeman Township before it was transported to Beth Israel Congregation to be part of a community mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath.
Members of Beth Israel Synagogue at 291 Main St. in Waterville get a close look Sunday morning at the mikvah being built as part of a campaign that has raised about $3.4 million for renovations and other needs at the synagogue. A mikvah is a ritual bath used to mark a variety of Jewish life cycle events, most notably conversion. Members of the congregation also used their time together Sunday to share in prayers of remembrance for those affected by the recent attacks on Israel.
Volunteers slide blocks of ice Sunday toward Connor Ransom, left, a member of the Colby Woodsmen Team as he loads the ice by the mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath at Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville. About 3 tons of ice were harvested from a pond in Freeman Township then transported to Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville.
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