I’ve gotten slower on posts lately as I have mostly been working on bugs and requirements for website related work. Perhaps one time I’ll post about some of that stuff. In the meantime, because we deal with family celebrations, today I just wanted to share some useful resources related to birth from a Jewish perspective. This is not a highly organized post but I hope some things will be useful.
Michelle Klein A Time to be Born
JHOM Birth resources (online)
Raphael Patai “Jewish Birth Customs in On Jewish Folklore” (Wayne State University) 1983:337-443
Issachar Ben Ami “Customs of Pregnancy and childbirth among Sephardic and Oriental Jews” in New Horizons in Sephardic Studies ed. Y.K. Stillman & G.K. Zuckman 1993:253-267;
Joshua Trachtenberg Jewish Magic and Superstition New York, 1970.
Elisheva Baumgarten Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World) Princeton University Press 2007 (Amazon link)
Rav Yehuda Henkin Shut (Sheelot UTeshuvot) Bnei Banim (available on Hebrewbooks.org)
Jack Levy and Rosemary Zumwalt Ritual lore of Sephardi women (Google book link)
Shalom Sabar Maagal Hachayim (Hebrew)
“Childbirth & Magic in Jewish Folklore and Material Culture” in Cultures of the Jews (Shocken) 2002: 671-722.
Aliza Lavie Tefillot Nashim
Nina Beth Cardin Out of the Depths I Call to You: A Book of Prayers for the Married Jewish Woman (Amazon link) Has translation of Italian woman’s prayer book which includes Hatarat Nedarim and vidui recommendations pre-birth.
JOFA manual on birth (pdf)
Semyon An-Sky The Jewish Artistic Heritage: An Album (Amazon link) pg. 43 An amulet/ incantation for a woman in child-birth. of Batsheva’s plea for her son Shlomo to get the throne from Lvov. There is a picture in the album with a sort of formulaic text on top (Larger text has names of forefathers/mothers and some angles.) Perhaps a connection to ascending the birthing stools.
Halichot Beita
Joel Wolowelsky Women, Jewish Law and Modernity: New Opportunities in a Post-Feminist Age (November 1918)Women, Jewish Law and Modernity: New Opportunities in a Post-Feminist Age (1997)
This is a bit of a mishmash of customs, halacha and superstitions. Please feel free to add resources you have found to be helpful.
By the way, the engraving above is from Bodenschatz’s Kirchliche Verfassung der Heutigen Juden, Sonderlich Derer in Deutschland , mid. 18th century which depicts many Jewish customs. Notice that here the mother and baby are surrounded by men saying Tehillim.
Michelle Klein <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>A Time to be Born</span>
<a href=”http://www.jhom.com/lifecycle/birth/index.htm” target=”_blank”>JHOM Birth resources</a> (online)
Raphael Patai “Jewish Birth Customs in On Jewish Folklore” (Wayne State University) 1983:337-443
Issachar Ben Ami “Customs of Pregnancy and childbirth among Sephardic and Oriental Jews” in New Horizons in Sephardic Studies ed. Y.K. Stillman & G.K. Zuckman 1993:253-267;
Joshua Trachtenberg <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Jewish Magic and Superstition</span> New York, 1970.
Elisheva Baumgarten <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691130299?ie=UTF8&tag=activkultu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0691130299″ target=”_blank”>Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World)</a> Princeton University Press 2007 (Amazon link)
Rav Yehuda Henkin Shut (Sheelot UTeshuvot) Bnei Banim (available on <a href=”http://hebrewbooks.org” target=”_blank”>Hebrewbooks.org</a>)
Jack Levy and Rosemary Zumwalt <a href=”http://books.google.com/books?id=oJxH_149HBgC&printsec=frontcover&cd=1&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false” target=”_blank”>Ritual lore of Sephardi women</a> (Google book link)
Shalom Sabar <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Maagal Hachayim</span> (Hebrew)
“Childbirth & Magic in Jewish Folklore and Material Culture” in <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Cultures of the Jews</span> (Shocken) 2002: 671-722.
Aliza Lavie <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Tefillot Nashim
</span>
Nina Beth Cardin <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0876686005?ie=UTF8&tag=activkultu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0876686005″ target=”_blank”>Out of the Depths I Call to You: A Book of Prayers for the Married Jewish Woman</a> (Amazon link) Has translation of Italian woman’s prayer book which includes Hatarat Nedarim and vidui recommendations pre-birth.
<a href=”http://www.jofa.org/about.php/publications/orthodoxjewi” target=”_blank”>JOFA manual on birth</a> (pdf)
Semyon An-Sky <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012H9768?ie=UTF8&tag=activkultu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0012H9768″>The Jewish Artistic Heritage: An Album</a> (Amazon link) pg. 43 An amulet/ incantation for a woman in child-birth. of Batsheva’s plea for her son Shlomo to get the throne from Lvov. There is a picture in the album with a sort of formulaic text on top (Larger text has names of forefathers/mothers and some angles.) Perhaps a connection to ascending the birthing stools.
Halichot Beita
Joel Wolowelsky <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881255742?ie=UTF8&tag=activkultu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0881255742″ target=”_blank”>Women, Jewish Law and Modernity: New Opportunities in a Post-Feminist Age (November 1918)</a>Women, Jewish Law and Modernity: New Opportunities in a Post-Feminist Age (1997)
This is a bit of a mishmash of customs, halacha and superstitions. Please feel free to add resources you have found to be helpful.
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