Questions tagged [pregnancy-birth]
laws and customs pertaining to pregnancy, labor, and childbirth
31 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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When during IVF are the parents' thoughts determining the level of the soul of their baby
I have read that the thoughts of a couple during marital relations does determine and effect the level of the soul they draw down for their baby. What about a couple using IVF to conceive? When ...
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Aruch Hashulchan's comments about the form of a fetus
In his discussion of the sin of wasting seed, R. Yechiel Michel Epstein writes that scientists using microscopes have found that the drop of semen contains the entire image/form of a person, thus ...
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Is altering human genetics wrong in Judaism?
So, our colonists of the oceanic planet Mayim (yes, that's its name), of whom every single one is a Jew, have encountered a problem: there is no more room on the buoyant-colony-thing that they live in,...
user11094
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How did Noah react to being childless?
Rashi to Genesis 5:32 reads:
אמר רבי יודן מה טעם כל הדורות הולידו למאה שנה וזה לחמש מאות אמר הקב״ה אם רשעים הם יאבדו במים ורע לצדיק זה ואם צדיקים הם אטריח עליו לעשות תיבות הרבה כבש את מעיינו ולא ...
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Can members of Hatzolah learn how to deliver a baby?
This seems like a very simple thing. Is there anything wrong with male members of Hatzolah (a frum Jewish emergency medical organization) learning how to deliver a baby? I recently heard that Rabbonim ...
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Can a pregnant woman go to aquariums?
Some have the custom that pregnant women do not go to zoos. (See here)
Does this custom extend to aquariums too?
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A widow using her deceased husbands semen to conceive?
If a husband has some of his semen frozen/saved and then dies, what halachic and hashkafic issues have to be addressed when deciding if his widow is allowed to/can/should use that semen to become ...
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How is the date of Yitzchak's birth related to the dispute between R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua?
There's a famous dispute between R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua when the world was created: Tishrei or Nissan. Their dispute is recorded in Rosh Hashanah 10b - 11a:
תניא רבי אליעזר אומר בתשרי נברא העולם ...
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Is there really a Midrash that says that G-d originally intended on Yaakov and Eisav to be born as one child but then then split into separate twins?
I heard this on a Torah class but there was no source provided. Is there really a Midrash that says that G-d originally made Yaakov and Eisav as one person but then Hashem split them into two separate ...
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What is the connection between Noam Elimelech and childbirth?
This website says (and I’ve heard it countless times):
In his sefer Shulchan Melachim (page 35b), R. Moshe Tzvi Landau writes that it is customary to place the Sefer Noam Elimelech, beneath the head ...
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Were Benei Noach chayiv in Priah u'Reviah and Bris Milah before Sinai?
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 59a says that any mitzvah given to Benei Noach and repeated at Har Sinai, generally speaking, was given to both groups. Thus, both groups are given the issur of Avodah Zarah, ...
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Why was Sara informed about having a baby just months before she would've found out on her own?
In Parshas Vayeira, a Malach told Avraham that he and Sara will have a baby in a year. But Sara was anyway going to find out about the baby several months later, when she would realize the pregnancy. ...
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Working out due date
I remember hearing once that there is a gematria how to work out the due date, something like the gematria of Ibur either 282 (w/o the vav) or 288 (with vav) from the last leil tevila. It may have ...
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What is "unusual childbirth pain"?
The Talmud [Yevamot 65b, Ketubot 60a] allows a woman to sterilize herself if she suffers unusual childbirth pain.
What is "unusual childbirth pain"? Women testify to the fact that there is ...
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Source for not saying Mazel Tov when pregnant
There seems to be a custom of not saying Mazel Tov on hearing news or observing that someone is pregnant (there are even those that correct others that say Mazel Tov). Instead they say Beshaah Tovah, ...
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The blessing of Pru U'rvu
"The reason why a mule cannot reproduce is because is wasn't blessed by the blessing of Pru U'rvu during the Six Days of Creation. "
Someone showed this to me while I was learning in Israel. I ...
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Aneni prayer for pregnancy best practice
What is best practice with regards to saying the Aneni prayer by a husband whose wife is in her 3rd month of pregnancy?
Should the prayer be said only once, or daily?
If daily, then is this only for ...
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What should a Jew do if he got a non-Jew pregnant?
This is NOT a situation that I or anyone I know is facing. It is hypothetical.
Imagine that a Jewish man impregnates a gentile woman. The woman refuses to convert. Which (if any) of the following ...
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Kohanic in vitro Pregnancy
I have the following theoretical questions, from many I’ve met and even a real case of someone very special I met in a hostel in Israel.
My assumptions are between parentheses after the list item.
...
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Are pregnant women forbidden from eating harmful vegetables?
There are many things that we can’t do because of danger - the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch even has an entire Siman on the topic.
Sifrei Bamidbar 87 states that certain vegetables are harmful to pregnant ...
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Why do we cry at shivah houses?
The Midrash in Koheles Rabbah (7:4 in the Warsaw numbering) writes (translation follows Artscroll, chapter 7, page 31):
נולד אדם הכל שמחין מת הכל בוכין. ואינו כן אלא נולד אדם ואין שמחין לו שאין ...
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The importance of a name with meaning
What is the importance of a name?
I read this on the Aish website:link
The naming of a Jewish child is a most profound spiritual moment. The
Sages say that naming a baby is a statement of her ...
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Tehillim while waiting for medical test results for an unborn baby
The suggestion is made that one recite tehillim #119 "with the letters corresponding to the name and mothers name" of someone awaiting medical test results. What if the sick person is an unborn baby (...
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Is shalom Zachar held for treifa babies
Halacha exempts baby boys with serious injuries or illnesses from Pidyon Haben (see this answer). My question is whether a shalom Zachar Seudat mitzvah should be held for a baby boy like this?
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Looking for a source that pregnant women should not smell bi'samim by havdalah
Looking for a source that pregnant women should not smell bi'samim by havdalah.
I have come across a few people claiming this.
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Minhag to not share a photo of a newborn
Is there anything mentioning about either sharing photos of a newborn child or specifically not sharing photos of a newborn?
(or maybe not sharing pictures before the bris?)
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The Word נולד by Each Tribe
The Yalkut Shimoni uses the word נולד when each tribe was born:
ראובן נולד בי"ד בכסליו מת בן מאה חמשים וחמש שנים
שמעון נולד בכ"ח בטבת ומת בן מאה ועשרים שנה
לוי נולד בי"ו בניסן ומת בן ...
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Is it true that abortion is allowed if it endangers the mother's mental health?
I heard this and it makes no sense because then almost every mother would have the excuse to abort; What would the exact parameters of such mental health issues be?
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Grandfather opening the ark
What is the origin of a grandfather opening the ark if his daughter is pregnant? I am familiar with the custom for the husband to receive this honor in Shul.
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Customs/Habits around having a second child?
Besides the brit milah ceremony, pidyon haben/habat (redemption of the firstborn) or kidush peter rechem (sanctification of the womb's opening) or seder kidushat chaye hamishpacha, (ceremony of ...
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Source for R' Soloveitchik's teaching about why we don't stand for a baby in utero?
There's a famous teaching from Niddah 30b that a baby is taught the entire Torah in utero.
Someone once referenced this gemara and asked The Rav, if that's the case why don't we stand for a pregnant ...
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