Christian lullaby sung by his or her wet nurse. R. Judah the Pious does not
recommend, however, firing the wet nurse, but rather that the wet nurse not
sing.^97 The same tendency is illustrated in discussions of the danger of wet
nurses teaching children improper behavior.^98
An additional problem mentioned in the sources was the nonkosher food
wet nurses introduced into Jewish households:
Non-Jewish wet nurses and servants ate impure things in the house, and the young
children would eat them too. Also, the adults could not guard [the kashrut] of the
dishes. Therefore one should not remain in the same city.^99The context of this comment is a discussion in Sefer H·asidim of cases in which
a H·asid who fears for his soul and for his Judaism should leave the city, rather
than live in a state of danger (of conversion). The advice given to the H·asid in
this case, leaving the city, is unrelated to the employment of wet nurses. This
practice was an aspect of medieval Jewish life: The specific circumstances in
this city, including the practices of wet nurses, endangered the H·asid and his
devotion.
Other sources discuss the nonkosher food that was part of a non-Jewish wet
nurse’s presence in the house. Since it was her responsibility to feed the infant,
the fear was that she would feed the infant improperly. One approach was that
the young children’s eating of the wet nurse’s food posed no problem, since a
minor is allowed to eat nonkosher food. There is ample evidence that, in cer-
tain cases, for example, if the child’s health required it, parents fed their chil-
dren foods that adults did not eat because of dietary restrictions. At times, this
violated both the laws of kashrut and the laws of the Sabbath.^100 Moreover,
nonkosher substances could be found regularly in Jewish homes, even if they
were not meant to be eaten. For example, sores and boils were often treated
with lard and the fat of other animals; these substances were used, not only for
children, but also as cures for adults. Children are said to have eaten lard both
for medicinal purposes and at the table, even when adults were sitting at the
same table eating.^101 As such, it would seem that, although modern practice
instinctively rejects this notion, medieval Jews often had these nonkosher sub-
stances in their homes and on their tables.^102
As opposed to those who sanctioned bringing the food of non-Jewish wet
nurses into the Jewish homes and, in some cases, even permitted the mother
of the child to feed her child this food herself, there was a second approach
hinted at in the source from Sefer H·asidim examined above. This source dis-
cussed elements that could induce Jews to convert and mentioned the wet
nurses’ impure food as one such temptation. While the text does not explain
how moving to a different city would solve the problem, it does demonstrate
that contact with impure food can serve as an impetus for conversion.
This fear is mentioned in other sources as well. For example: R. Isaac b.
Moses, the author of the compendium Sefer Or Zaru’a, discusses this concern.