Portion of the Portion

The Midwives' Important Jobs

Having recently stood by the side of a midwife in the labor room and seen the importance of a competent, caring midwife in the progression of a natural delivery, this week the verses in the portion that talk about the midwives caught my attention. Par’o in his plans to deal with the Jews instructs the midwives to kill all the male babies on the birthing stones.

For someone whose role is to help bring life into the world, being instructed to kill the baby goes very much against the grain. And yet Par’o is the ruler of the country. Who are they to stand up to him? And yet the M’YALDOT did not follow his instructions. The ME’AM LO’EZ even says that PU’A screamed at Par’o for his decree.

But Rashi brings another explanation to this name PU’A (1:15). It is a depiction of the task of the midwife. SHIFRA - M’SHAPERET ET HAVLAD - Her job is L’SHAPEIR - to improve the child. To make sure that the newborn survives and comes out healthy. And PU’A - PU’A UMDABERET LAVLAD - talks to the baby - like those who calm a crying baby. It seems from here that a midwife’s job is just about the baby.
The Talmud relates (Shabbat 31a) that one of the questions posed to Hillel the Elder by an annoying potential convert was “why are the heads of Babylonians misshapen - Hillel answered - because they don’t have smart midwives. In this story the midwife didn’t do the utmost to make sure the baby came out at its best.

But this explanation by Rashi bothered me. In the explanation of the midwives’ names according to Rashi we only see one aspect of the midwife’s role - that of dealing with the baby’s welfare. But having stood next to the midwife and having her give me tasks to do to help the laboring mother progress with labor, I saw that the midwife also deals with the laboring woman. She gives her confidence to continue, helps her conserve her energy and use it efficiently and tries to protect the mother from any physical damage. According to Rashi this aspect of midwifery isn’t portrayed in the names of the midwives mentioned in our portion.

So we can ask - “Does the job of the M’YALEDET - midwife have anything to do with the laboring mother? Maybe our translation of M’YALEDET as midwife” - with the woman” - is not really correct? Maybe the midwife’s responsibility is just to the baby? Or maybe the Jewish women in Egypt in those days were so special as mentioned by the M’YALDOT themselves to brush off P’aro (1:19) - KI CHAYOT HEINA - Before the midwife got there the Jewish women had delivered their babies by themselves. Maybe they really didn’t need the help of a midwife - they were all able to manage on their own and the midwife’s job was just to care for the baby.

I found an answer to my question in two commentators - Abarbanel and Malbim. Both say that there are two aspects to the job of a midwife. The Malbim says that there were two types of midwives - those who sat with the woman to help get the baby out - and the others who dealt with the baby after it was out and cut the umbilical cord and other necessary task.

The Abarabanel sees a hint to the two types of M’YALDOT who worked as a team in their names. One was SHIFRA - the one who would L’SHAPEIR HAVLAD - care for the welfare of the new baby to be born. The other was PU’A - whose job would be to hold the woman in labor, talk to her, calm her, and encourage her to pray. All of these are important tasks in the female profession of M’YALEDET.

CASTOR OIL OR BLACK LICORICE

A woman whose labor is not progressing may be told by her midwife to take some castor oil. Don’t worry - I am not giving you a recipe for castor oil to serve at your Shabbat table but I did read that if you cook any kind of beans with a bit of castor oil, it reduces the chances for flatulence - having excessive gas in the digestive tract. Add a bit of castor oil (up to 2 Tbsp) to your favorite chulent recipe and see if it makes a difference. If you are afraid your pregnant (and overdue) guests might complain (though they shouldn’t taste the difference) you can serve black licorice instead. It contains the chemical glycyrrhizin, which stimulates the production of the hormone prostaglandin, which can induce labor.

• Other Portion of the Portion
• SHOV'VIM TAT
• The Women in Sh'mot
• Fanatic? Who Me?