Jewish Texts on Birth

§ Rabbi Samlai taught: To what is a fetus in its mother’s womb comparable? To a folded notebook [lefinkas]. And it rests with its hands on its two sides of its head, at the temples, its two arms [atzilav] on its two knees, and its two heels on its two buttocks, and its head rests between its knees, and its mouth is closed, and its umbilicus is open. And it eats from what its mother eats, and it drinks from what its mother drinks, and it does not emit excrement lest it kill its mother. But once it emerges into the airspace of the world, the closed limb, i.e., its mouth, opens, and the open limb, its umbilicus, closes, as otherwise it cannot live for even one hour. And a candle is lit for it above its head, and it gazes from one end of the world to the other, as it is stated: “When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness” (Job 29:3). And do not wonder how one can see from one end of the world to the other, as a person can sleep here, in this location, and see a dream that takes place in a place as distant as Spain [beAspamya]. And there are no days when a person is in a more blissful state than those days when he is a fetus in his mother’s womb, as it is stated in the previous verse: “If only I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me” (Job 29:2). And the proof that this verse is referring to gestation is as follows: Which are the days that have months but do not have years? You must say that these are the months of gestation. And a fetus is taught the entire Torah while in the womb, as it is stated: “And He taught me and said to me: Let your heart hold fast My words; keep My commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:4). And it also states: “As I was in the days of my youth, when the converse of God was upon my tent” (Job 29:4). The Gemara asks: What is the purpose of the statement: And it also states: “When the converse of God was upon my tent”? Why is it necessary to cite this verse in addition to the previously quoted verse from Proverbs? The Gemara explains: And if you would say that the verse in Proverbs is insufficient, as it is a prophet who is saying that he was taught the entire Torah in his mother’s womb, but this does not apply to ordinary people, come and hear the verse in Job: “When the converse of God was upon my tent.” And once the fetus emerges into the airspace of the world, an angel comes and slaps it on its mouth, causing it to forget the entire Torah, as it is stated: “Sin crouches at the entrance” (Genesis 4:7), i.e., when a person enters the world he is immediately liable to sin due to his loss of Torah knowledge. And a fetus does not leave the womb until the angels administer an oath to it, as it is stated: “That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isaiah 45:23). The verse is interpreted as follows: “That to Me every knee shall bow”; this is referring to the day of one’s death, as it is stated: “All those who go down to the dust shall kneel before Him” (Psalms 22:30). “Every tongue shall swear”; this is referring to the day of one’s birth, as it is stated in description of a righteous person: “He who has clean hands, and a pure heart, who has not taken My name in vain, and has not sworn deceitfully” (Psalms 24:4), i.e., he has kept the oath that he took before he was born. And what is the oath that the angels administer to the fetus? Be righteous and do not be wicked. And even if the entire world says to you: You are righteous, consider yourself wicked. And know that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is pure, and His ministers are pure, and the soul that He gave you is pure. If you preserve it in a state of purity, all is well, but if you do not keep it pure, I, the angel, shall take it from you.

(3) ... Another possibility: "When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male" [Leviticus 12:2] Thus when it is written "Life and lovingkindness you have given me, Your care has guarded my spirit" [Job 10:12] Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said three [things]: In the way of the world if a person takes a purse of money and places the opening downward, does not the money scatter?! A fetus that rests in the womb of his mother, The Holy Blessed One guards him so he does not fall and die, is this not praiseworthy?! Thus - "Life and lovingkindness you have given me." Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said also: It is the way of the world that an animals breasts are in the place of the womb and the newborn nurses in a shameful place. But a woman, her breasts are in a beautiful place, and the newborn nurses in a place of honor. Is this not "life and lovingkindness?" Thus - "Life and lovingkindness you have given me." Rabbi Elazar said, if a person tarries in a hot place for one hour, does he not die? Yet the womb of the woman boils, and the fetus which is placed inside the womb, The Holy Blessed One protects it, it is not aborted in the shape of a bag, it is not aborted as the placenta, nor aborted in the shape of a sandal - is this not "life and lovingkindess?" Thus - "Life and lovingkindness you have given me." Rabbi Tachalifa of Cesaerea If a person eats one portion of food after another portion of food, does not the second portion expel the first? But no matter how much food a woman eats or how much liquid she drinks, the fetus is not expelled - is this not "life and lovingkindness?" Rabbi Simon said, the womb of a woman is made with many cavities, many coils, and many bands. At the moment that a woman sits on the birth chair, (the baby) does not get cast out all at once. There is a saying, "If one band is loosened, two bands are loosened". Rabbi Meir said: All nine months that a woman does not see blood, she really should have seen it. What did The Holy Blessed One do? He removed (the blood) upward to her breasts and made it milk, so that when the baby was born there would be food for him to eat. Even more if it was a male child, as it says: "When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male."

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Light is sown for the righteous (Psaoms 97:11) ...[the light] is hidden and sown like a seed that gives birth to seeds and fruit. Thereby the world is sustained. Every single day, a ray of that light shines into the world and keeps everything alive, for with that ray the blessed Holy One feeds the world. And everywhere that Torah is studied at night, one thread-thin ray appears from that hidden light and flows down upon those absorbed in her. (Translation from A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar by Melila Hellner-Eshed)