{"id":141468,"date":"2023-09-05T12:23:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T09:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=141468"},"modified":"2024-03-06T16:39:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T14:39:37","slug":"yemen_childbirth_songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/yemen_childbirth_songs\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBless the mother of the child with a maid and a servant\u201d: Birthing Songs of Yemen’s Jewish Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

While researching the origins of the women\u2019s gallery typically found in synagogues for one of our previous articles<\/a>, we learned that these galleries didn’t actually exist in the Jewish communities of Yemen. What\u2019s more, Yemenite women were not allowed to take part in any intellectual pursuits or Torah study.<\/p>\n

Our interest piqued, we read in Dr. Vered Madar\u2019s doctoral thesis that women in Yemen were able to regain their voice, which had been silenced and policed by the patriarchal society that surrounded them, through the songs and poems they composed and sang. In this article, we will focus on childbirth songs, but in fact, women in Yemen sang songs for many different kinds of circumstances and events. Through song, they expressed themselves, their private world and yearnings in the diverse contexts of their daily lives. They did this both in the company of women\u2014among their close family or in social gatherings during life cycle ceremonies\u2014and alone, for example, before dawn while they would grind flour.<\/p>\n

Before we dive into the songs themselves, we’ll begin with some background on the life of Jewish women in Yemen. It was common in the Jewish community for a woman to hide a pregnancy for as long as possible, even from close family. She would share this information only with the women closest to her: her mother, her mother-in-law and friends or neighbors who served as her advisors, and later as caretakers. The shame of publicly acknowledging the sexual act combined with the fear of evil spirits and demons led to this secrecy. Loose dresses helped women to hide their growing bellies, and anyway, there was no special maternity clothing. Pregnant women also usually worked right up until the birth.<\/p>\n

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A newly-arrived immigrant from Yemen. Nadav Mann, Bitmuna. Yemenite Immigration Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The birth itself also took place in secret and mother, midwife and female family members all helped to keep it that way. Considering a first-time mother\u2019s lack of preparation for the birth and the very young age at which a woman married in Yemen, a first birth was often remembered as a confusing experience and the young mother would have felt extremely vulnerable. The women who tended to the birthing mother would have signaled to her to try to refrain from crying aloud or making a sound. The reason being that according to Yemenite folk belief, if during labor the voice of the woman giving birth is heard by passers-by, her pain and the birth will end only when those who heard her had reached their own homes.<\/p>\n

The midwife also typically avoided physical contact with the mother or the fetus as it made its way through the birth canal \u201clest its soft bones break.\u201d In the absence of advanced medical knowledge, a woman struggling to give birth was offered various folk remedies. Among these were foods, such as the etrog<\/em> from Sukkot or beverages such as aged wine which was perceived as beneficial for warming the body and improving blood circulation. Amulets and charms such as precious stones were also used. The bitter herb (maror<\/em>) from the Passover Seder was often hung around the mother\u2019s neck, a Torah mantle could be placed on her head or a paper with the names of forty venerated sages could be tied to her thigh.<\/p>\n

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Mazal Tov: She Came Away with Her Arms Full<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of a successful birth, if all was well with the mother and newborn, ceremonies in their honor began immediately. From this moment on, celebration replaced the concealment and shame of pregnancy and childbirth. Already during the cutting of the umbilical cord, those present would being to cheer and sing. These ritual cheers, hagar <\/em>in Yemenite, had a double purpose: to inform others about what was happening and to chase away the demons lurking near the mother and newborn. But there was also another, unstated goal: to drown out any expression of difficult emotions or feelings by the new mother.<\/p>\n

The month after the birth was known as the month of the new mother, in which her family and community showered her with fortifying and comforting food, salves, rest and pampering so that she could regain her strength and health once she returned to her husband and the community after her period of confinement. Repeated over and again in the women\u2019s birth songs is the belief that the new mother\u2019s grave remains open during the first month after childbirth. The community’s efforts were geared towards steering her away from it. Therefore, they took care of her every need, never allowing her to leave the house unaccompanied, and even then – only rarely.<\/p>\n

Yom Alwafa<\/em>\u2014the “day of completion”\u2014marked the end of the new mother\u2019s month-long isolation. \u00a0This was the occasion when the birth-songs would come to the fore. The songs that the women sang at the completion ceremony were composed of rhymes that would sometimes come to them spontaneously, or they might combine lines they had heard sung before. But no song was like another. Each was a completely new version. Thus, there was never a single, established version of these songs, and they were never recorded or written down.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a Rumor Going Around<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the birth song recorded by the late singer Shalom Tzbari, he performs the song Ya-Walida, Ya-Walad<\/em>! (“O birthing mother! O birth!”). The song blesses the mother with good health and tells us: \u201cthe rumor is widespread in the city\u2014a son has already been born to my lord\u201d. The song then lists all the treats the new mother deserves: a maid and a servant, fine porridge every day, cow\u2019s butter every morning, poultry from the villages, a piece of lamb every night, sweet honey, fine coffee, an upper floor and a sofa to lie on, bedding from Europe, large pillows and much more…<\/p>\n