Christianity. In the case of the postpartum ritual, we must learn how Jews re-
lated to the Marian elements so central to Christian practice, even after the
Reformation. Were the Jews aware of these Marian elements and, if so, how
did they contend with them?
The Virgin Mary was a central figure both in medieval devotion as a whole
and in female devotion in particular. Recent research has emphasized how
central the Jews were in Marian piety. William Jordan has argued for the cen-
trality of Marian elements in the Talmud trials against the Jews, and scholars
who study medieval and early modern England have discussed the anti-Jewish
elements in Marian devotion even, or perhaps especially, after the expulsion
of the Jews from England.^99 Finally, scholars of medieval Germany such as
Mary Minty and Heidi Röcklein have noted the interesting phenomenon of
synagogues turned into churches dedicated to the Virgin in certain locations
after their Jewish communities were exiled.^100 This seems to point to a little-
examined topic that requires further investigation.
Here, I wish to discuss another aspect of this same issue. Rather than ex-
amine how Marian piety related to the Jews, this discussion focuses on the
Jews’ awareness of Mary and of practices related to her. Polemical comments
show that Jews were well aware of Marian devotion and of some of its prac-
tices. It is not improbable that Jewish women became aware of the details of
the churching ritual, including the Marian elements at its core, through their
frequent daily contacts with Christian women. The contact between Jewish
and Christian women was especially common around birth. They may have
shared medical information and practitioners, and non-Jewish servants fre-
quently attended Jewish households, especially after birth.^101 Jewish women
were probably well aware of the belief in Mary’s role as a protector at birth,
and they most certainly were familiar with statues of her in the cities, which
were often shrines of pilgrimage and devotion.
In fact, a legend from the early modern period accredits Jewish women with
a certain belief in the Virgin. This legend has a Christian hero exclaiming that
he, unlike Jewish women, really believes in the Virgin. The accusation against
Jewish women is directly related to birth and practices surrounding it:
Do not banish me from your presence, for I am not like those Jewesses who in-
voke the Virgin’s aid in giving birth and then go through their homes with white
napkins crying: “Be gone Oh Mary from this Jewish home.”^102I do not wish to question the historical veracity of the charge made in this tale
against Jewish women who called on the Virgin Mary for help during birth
and/or chased her out of their homes afterward. I would like to suggest, how-
ever, that the Jewish ritual suggests an awareness of Marian elements.
Earlier, we noted that the Jewish ritual designated two separate timetables.
The synagogue ritual structured the return to household and social roles, while
the immersion in the mikve shaped the return to the conjugal bed. I also noted