tries, wet nurses made more money than elsewhere, and it was more common to find children sent
out to the homes of wet nurses, rather than cared for in their own homes (Fildes, Wet Nursing,
36–39). This difference might explain the distinction between the practices in Germany and those
in northern France, and, perhaps, the German-Jewish texts’ stronger reservations regarding send-
ing children to the homes of Christian wet nurses.
- Such an example appears in Sefer Or Zaru’a, 1: no. 657. In this case, it is clear that the
woman was very poor when she sought employment. - Christian theological objections to other wet-nursing arrangements grounded in the su-
periority of Christianity to Judaism, or the fear of conversion of the wet nurses to Judaism, would
not have applied to this practice. Only one source mentions this option, and it is from outside the
geographical area under discussion. A thirteenth-century document from Valdolid, Spain, forbids
Jewish and Muslim women to nurse Christian children, and Christian women to nurse Jewish and
Muslim children. See Heath Dillard, Daughters of the Reconquest: Women in Castillian Town So-
ciety 1100–1300(Cambridge, 1984), 207. - Only R. Eliezer b. Nathan discusses the reasons a Jewish woman should not accept em-
ployment in a Christian home. He explains that if she were single, committing herself to be a wet
nurse would restrict her ability to marry during the period of her employment, and if she were a
married woman, working in a Christian home would cause her husband to be averse to her (Sefer
Ra’avan, no. 294). - Aside from this ruling, Mordekhai, Avodah Zara, no. 813, some of the sources propose an
alternate solution: The woman can express the milk and then throw it away. For example: R. Moses
of Zurich, Semak of Zurich, no. 101; R. Meir b. Barukh, Shut Maharam(Prague edition), no. 41. - Rubin, Gentile Tales, 33.
131.This possibility is also linked with an insinuation against the Jews that appears in a bullaof
Innocent III from 1208, that mentions that Jews sell the milk that their children do not drink to
Christians: “Similar to this is what the Jewish women do with the milk which is publicly sold for the
nourishment of children.” It is not at all clear that this was breast milk, nor is it clear exactly what
the Jewish women do (Grayzel, Church and the Jews, doc. 24, pp. 126–27). The entire document
discusses practices of the Jews—such as selling non-kosher meat to Christians—that are derogatory
to Christians, since they receive substances the Jews themselves refuse to consume. It seems, how-
ever, that it was common practice to express breast milk for infants and feed them with bottles. This
practice was not allowed on the Sabbath. See: R. Yeh·iel of Paris, Piskei R. Yeh·iel, no. 9. - Maher, Anthropology of Breast Feeding, 18; Jane Khatib-Chahidi, “Milk Kinship in Shi’ite
Islamic Iran,” in The Anthropology of Breast Feeding, ed. Vanessa Maher (Oxford, 1992), 109–12.
133.Eric R. Wolf, “Kinship, Friendship and Patron-Client Relationships in Complex Societies,”
in The Social Anthropology of Complex Societies, ed. Michael Banton (Edinburgh, 1966), 1–18;
Jane Schneider, “Introduction: The Analytic Strategies of Eric R. Wolf,” Articulating Hidden His-
tories: Exploring the Influence of Eric R. Wolf, eds. Jane Schneider and Rayna Rapp (Berkeley, Los
Angeles, and London, 1995), 7–9. - Chapter 1, pp. 49–52.
- The main concern was that the nursing infant would die because s/he would refuse to
nurse from someone other than his/her mother, or that a suitable wet nurse might not be found.
Since this second pregnancy was within the family unit, there was no fear that the father or mother
might be careless with their infant’s life.
136.Jean-Paul Habicht et al., “The Contraceptive Role of Breast-Feeding,” Population Studies
39(1989): 213–32; Ulla-Britt Lithell, “Breast-Feeding Habits and Their Relation to Infant Mortal-
ity and Marital Fertility,” Journal of Family History6(1981): 182–94. - One solution for this problem—coitus interruptus, was forbidden in Judaism as in Chris-
tianity. This suggestion and others are discussed in BT Yevamot 34b. As this method is discussed
several times and repeatedly forbidden in medieval responsa, one can assume that like medieval
Christians many Jews were aware of this method and practiced it.