Jewish Childbirth Protection

Until very recent times many women and children died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. The existent medical treatment was erraticand often caused greater damage than the illness. It is understandable, therefore, that people turned to magical sources for comfort. The charms and remedies developed were most often against the evils of Lilith and her cohorts.

According to Jewish legend, Lilith was created as Adam’s equal:

“And God created man in His image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them: Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fishof the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on the earth (Genesis 1:27-28).”

Lilith on the Prowl

She demanded equality, but her plea was denied. She therefore pronounced a magical incantation of the name of God and removed herself from Adam’s presence. Three angels, Sanvei, Sansenvei, and Semangelof, were sent to retrieve her, but she refused to return. Eve was then created tobe a helpmate for Adam (Genesis 2:21-22), and Lilith vowed to become a predator of pregnant women and infants (the children of Eve). The legends continue and reveal that Lilith consorted with demons and took on various demonic, serpentlike, and humanoid forms.

As it developed, the legend of Lilith revealed borrowings from many sources and different periods of time. She is depicted as an amalgam of a succubus, a child-stealing witch, and a temptress. She derives in partfrom Lilatu (an Assyrian female nightspirit),  Lamassu (the Babylonian child-stealer), and the Lamiae and Strigae of Greece and Rome.

These various types eventually merged into Lilith, who appears all over the world in different disguises, by day or night, as witch or young woman. The charms against Lilith are as varied as her appearances, though there is usually some reference to the three protectors of mother and child.

Protective Angels

Sanvei, Sansenvei, and Semangelof are the three angels who traditionally protect mother and child in the dangerous period after childbirth. They appear on walls of birth rooms, on Jewish charms, and onamulets, usually as cock-headed figures. This form is possibly a survival of a type called “Anguipede,” commonly found during the Graeco-Roman period. The anguipede is a figure with a cock’s head and a pair of snakes curling outward below the body in place of legs. It often appears in association with the names Sabaot, Michael, Abraxas, and IAO.

The need for protection was common to all peoples, and often the solutions were similar. The Jewish legend of the three angels and the protection of mother and child has strong associations with the Avestitra legends of the Balkans and Russia, and is also found in the Middle East.

In addition to the three angels, the prophet Elijah is the hero of the Jewish version. His counterpart in the Balkans is frequently St.George; the three angels are represented as Sinoe, Sisinoi, and Sisyodorus, the brothers of Melita, in the European version.

Achieving & Sustaining Pregnancy

Many aids to induce conception, as well as to prevent miscarriage, were used. Some of the specifically Jewish techniques revolved around Jewish rituals. For example, the sight of a circumcision knife was considered prophylactic. Mandrakes, given by Reuben to his mother Leah, wereused by women to promote fertility.

Various protective measures were relied on at the critical moment of birth. Iron, in the form of knives, horseshoes, and amulets, was useful, since demons were considered pre-Iron Age creatures and the sight of metal would scare them. Light, honey, salt, and the words of the Bible were also considered protective.

Although childbirth is an easier and less critical ordeal today, it is still a period of many uncertainties. Broadsides for the protection of mother and child are still being printed and used today.