Baptism

4. The water of the Mikvah is brought together by natural means not
drawn.
5. The water cannot be channeled to the Mikvah through anything that
can become tomeh/unclean, such as pipes or channels made of metal,
clay, or wood.
6. The Mikvah must contain no less than 40 Sa'ah of water, which is
approximately 150 to 200 gallons.
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Even when immersion was used it was never done by another. The person
immersed themselves before at least three male witnesses.
The third centaury Judaism prescribed it as follows: " The person being
immersed went into the water by himself, stretching out his arms, flexing his
fingers, fluttering his eyelids he squats down into the water until he is
completely covered by water. Flexing the fingers and toes, fluttering the
eyelids was to insure that the water touched every part of the body. Normally
a person would do this three times. The witness was the person that stood out
of the water to make sure that the immersing person was completely covered
by the water. " Whether this was the method at the time of Jesus cannot be
ascertained.
The Brahminic method is as follows: "Step into the water halfway (abdomen
level), pray looking towards north or east and dip the whole body under water
once, rub the entire body clean with the palms and dip again twice."
However the baptism of John was not a proselysation but a ritual signifying
repentance and return of a people who were already within the covenant.
Scholars think that John and Jesus were both associated some how with the
Qmran Community of Essenes. John’s baptism was therefore most probably a
"pledge of allegiance and good conscience towards God". They were entering
into a more holy life. Such baptisms were made standing erect. It was more of
an anointing than ritual purification. In the same way Christian baptism is
probably anointing someone into Royal Priesthood. It is assumed that they are
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