Yehudah Relis asked:
Rabbi Kornfeld AMV"S,
Would you have any information on where the Gesher d'Bavel is and when it existed? The reason I ask is that there is a famous gemorah about abba d'Shmuel
who created a mikvah in the Euphrates because he was concerned about notphim being more than zochilim in the rainy season. Since the gemorah on 59b states that the river was redirected, if in deed the redirection happened before the time of abba d"Shmuel and if the redirection occured above the point of the mikvah it would seem to imply that zochalim can flow through a man made system without any impact to its status relative to tahorah. This could be pertinent to the first mishnah of the fifth perek of mikvaos which discusses the status of a shukah which is a vessel which has water from an adjacent fountain flowing into and beyond it. Thanks and yasher koach for the work of your kollel. Yehudah Relis
The Kollel replies:
A "Shokas" is a vessel that was separate from the ground and then attached. Here, though, there is no reason to doubt the validity of the river with regard to using it as a Mikvah, just because its waters were redirected by man.