My interviewees ranged from ultra-Orthodox to completely secular, with many
falling somewhere in between. Whereas Orthodox women, who adhere to halakhah,
continue to maintain many of the attitudes and traditions that Jews have observed
since earliest times, I learned that secular Jews are often ignorant of the Jewish child-
birth-related customs and values of their own families and communities of origin.

The advantage of interviewing in Israel was that, in 1984, when the inter-
views were conducted, Israel was at the end of the transition from the old world of
folk management of childbirth to modern Western medicine. Thus, some elderly
women were able to recall customs prevalent when they had given birth fifty years
earlier, in areas where Western medicine was unknown, customs practiced for gener-
ations but made obsolete by modern medicine.

Israeli women, like Jewish women throughout the Diaspora, who had suf-
fered infertility spoke bitterly of their misery and loneliness and of the social pressures
from family and friends to have a child. Women who had miscarried spoke of their
sense of loss and depression, especially when they suffered repeated miscarriages. When
their doctors could not explain the reason for their loss, the women often blamed their
own actions, or even their thoughts. In addition, some of the women I interviewed
refused to consider contraception; others reported that, although their husbands would
not hear of it, they discreetly practiced one or more methods to prevent conception.
Some of the women I interviewed had undergone abortion to terminate an un-
wanted pregnancy, but many had succeeded in planning their pregnancies.

Whereas some women clearly enjoyed being pregnant, many did not,
feeling ungainly and unattractive. Some pregnant women suffered physically, and
some reported marital tension over sex, or over insufficient help and attention from
their partner. Interestingly, many reported that they dreamed more during pregnancy
than at other times, and they often interpreted their dreams to gain insight into their
feelings about the fetus, or about maternal fears. Most of the women I interviewed
spoke of their fear of giving birth, often quoting the biblical phrase, "In pain shall you
bear children." Although they knew that Eve had suffered in giving birth, and that
most women experience pain in childbirth, they never imagined that it would be as
bad as it proved to be for them. Some women also described their unexpected post-
natal depression.

Most of my interviewees had close relationships with their mothers,
which were enhanced during pregnancy. These women related their expectation of
help from their mothers after the birth of the baby. A few mentioned the importance
of having a son, rather than a daughter. In addition, many described the celebrations
performed after their babies' arrivals.

Although the women I interviewed came or descended from communi-
ties from all corners of the earth and expressed many different attitudes, they shared
many ideas, traditions, and stories from their common Jewish heritage. For example,
many women quoted Jewish sources as their reason for shunning contraception and
for their suffering during birthing. Some women quoted family traditions regarding
the interpretation of omens during pregnancy and the manner of naming the new-
born. Old wives' tales that were passed from one generation to the next were quo-
ted hesitantly, in embarrassed awareness that these are no longer relevant today--for

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