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Labor
LABOR
ןעמל .ילע םחר םיברה ךימחר ןעמל ׳ה םישנה לכ תוכזבו םיקידצה לכ תוכז תמשו ןהילע םחרמ התאש תוינקדצה ךילא ןעוש תעב ןתקעצ לקל תנזאהו דסחב ןתוא תחתפו ןמחר תא חתפתש ןנטב יתלד יריצו דסחב ודליו םימחרבו דיב ןוירה לש חתפמה תא חק ,וחתפנ .רעצו בצע ילב ינוירה חתפו ךנימי God, You are the trustworthy and righteous Judge. You have decreed, since the beginning of the creation of the world and of humanity, that we women will birth children, and that the process will include pain, as it is written in Your Torah: “In anguish you will bear children.”
God, in Your abundant compassion, have compassion on me! In the merit of all the righteous men and women upon whom You have had compassion, to whom You have listened and responded when they cried and prayed to You to open their wombs and in Your kindness and compassion they gave birth as the gates of their wombs were opened, please take the key of childbirth in Your right hand and open my womb, without anguish and pain.
ךינפל יבל ןויגהו יפ ירמא ןוצרל ויהי״ 23.״ילאגו ירוצ הוהי For the child in my womb, please soften any challenging inclinations [the child is coming in with], and strengthen the child’s good inclinations. Please protect me and my unborn child.
Receive me and my prayers, as You had accepted [long ago] the prayers and tears of Hannah [mother of the prophet Samuel], when You gave a prophecy to the priest Eli who [heard Hannah’s prayer and] gave her the good tidings that she will bear a child. For You, God, in Your compassion, are prepared to receive the prayers of all who sincerely call to You.
— Yehudit Kutcher Coen, Italy 1786, from The Prayer Book of the
Married Woman24
23 Excerpt. 24 The book is kept in the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York
