- Quoted: Caspers, “Leviticus 12, Mary and Wax,” 307.
- This conclusion does not necessarily contradict arguments that churching was far more
than just a rite of purification (for example Rieder, Churching of Women, 269–74). It could have
served many purposes, including purification.
- Karant-Nunn, Reformation of Ritual, 78–79.
- These three angels are mentioned many times in the medieval literature and are known
as angels who can protect the parturient and the baby from Lilith, R. Juspa Schammes, Wormser
Minhagbuch, no. 288, n. 3.
- The windelor wimpelis the cloth diaper used at the circumcision ceremony. It was made
into a Torah binder: Joseph Gutmann, The Jewish Life Cycle(Leiden, 1987), 6–8; Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “The Cut That Binds: The Western Ashkenazic Torah Binder As Nexus
between Torah and Circumcision,” in Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual, ed. Victor
Turner (Washington D.C., 1982), 136–45. The most detailed study of wimpels to date is Naomi
Feuchtwanger-Sarig, Torah Binders from Denmark. Ph.D. Diss., Hebrew University (Jerusalem,
1999). Some scholars have suggested this custom originated at the time of Maharil (R. Jacob
Mulin): Patricia Hidiroglou, Les rites de naissance dans le Judaïsme(Paris, 1997), 146.
107.I have followed the explanations of the editor of the Wormser Minhagbuch(see n. 44). The
meaning here is not entirely clear, but the author is describing the drawing of the circle around the
parturient’s bed until the correct amount of time has passed, as he continues in the lines that follow.
- On this custom: Güdemann, Sefer haTorah veheHayin, 1:204, n. 4.
109.Kindbettappears in many sources as a general term for this period spent in bed. For ex-
ample: R. Juda Löw Kirchheim (d. 1632), Minhagot Wormeisa, 315; Eliyahu b. Moses Luntz, Sefer
Toldot Adam(Koenigsburg, 1860, repr. Jerusalem, 1988), no. 37, 115–23, 135–40, 159–62. I
thank Yemima H·ovav who referred me to this book.
- The Sturzand Schleierwere both head coverings. The Sturzwas less fancy and in this case
worn over the fancier head covering, the Schleier. See Wormser Minhagbuch(n. 44), 2:159, nn.
25 and 26 as well as 1: no. 120, n. 1.
- The Röckli(lit. little skirt) was the name for shrouds in Ashkenaz. In this case, the par-
turient is wearing shrouds over her clothing.
- There were a number of different customs concerning when to bring the wimpelto the
synagogue. See Hidiroglou, Les rites de naissance, 3; and Gutman, The Jewish Life Cycle, 9. This
section is followed by a description of the Hollekreisch that took place that same Sabbath
afternoon.
Notes to Chapter 4
R. Jacob Mulin, Shut Maharil, ed. Yitzchok Satz (Jerusalem, 1979), nos. 104–105.
- For statistics concerning the medieval mortality rates, see Boswell, Kindness of Strangers, 13–
17; Sarah Grieco, “Breastfeeding, Wet Nursing and Infant Mortality,” in Historical Perspectives on
Breast Feeding, eds. Sarah F. Matthews Grieco and Carlo A. Corsini (Florence, 1991), 15–62.
- I will discuss children up to the age of roughly two years. In spite of the gendered nature of
the Hebrew language, the word tinoq(child/infant), if not qualified in the source, may refer to ei-
ther a male or a female child.
- For example, in the writings of Bartholemaeus Anglicus (England), Raymond Llull (Spain),
Phillippe de Nouvarre (Northern Italy), Konrad of Megenburg (Germany), and others. For a de-
scription of this genre, see Michael Goodich, From Birth to Old Age, (Lanham, 1989), 39–42, 83–
104; A. George Rigg and Frank Anthony Carl Mantello, Medieval Latin(Washington, D.C.,
1996), 416–21.
- For example: Alexandre-Bidon and Closson, L’enfant à l’ombre des cathédrales; more re-
cently, Riché and Alexandre-Bidon, L’enfance au Moyen Age.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 221
