Mothers and Children. Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe - Elisheva Baumgarten

28. See p. 113.


29. This custom has been treated in passing. See Perles, “Die Berner Handschrift,” 23–24 and,
    more extensively, Elliott Horowitz, “The Eve of Circumcision: A Chapter in the History of Jew-
    ish Nightlife,” Journal of Social History13 (1989/90): 45–46.


30. See n. 39 for explanations of these terms.
    31.Mah·zor Vitry, no. 502.


31. Ibid., no. 506.


32. This ancient event is mentioned in later sources together with shavu’a habat, a celebration
    for a girl. Rubin rejects this idea, Beginning of Life, 117–19; 188, n. 226.


33. For example: Tosafot, Baba Kama 80a, s.v. “LeBeit yeshu’a haben”; Rashi, ibid., s.v. “Shavu’a
    haben”; Rashi, Sanhedrin 32b, s.v. “Or haner beBrorh·ayil”; Tosafot, ibid., s.v. “Kol reh·ayim beBu-
    rani”; “Or haner deBrorh·ayil,” Midrash Shoh·er Tov, chap. 112, 468.


34. For the development of the custom, see Elliot Horowitz, “The Eve of Circumcision,” 45–
    69; idem, “Coffee, Coffeehouses and Nocturnal Rituals,” AJS Review, 14(1990): 39.


35. Jacques Brill, Lilith ou la mère obscure(Paris, 1981) compares Lilith and demons in differ-
    ent traditions. Siegmund Hurwitz, Lilith die erste Eva. Eine Studie über dunkle Aspekte des Weib-
    lichen(Zurich, 1980), 112–14; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, 42, suggests that the Wachnacht cer-
    emony was directed against Lilith.


36. Horowitz, “Eve of Circumcision,” 61, n. 9; Güdemann, Sefer haTorah veheHayim, 3:103–
    104; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, 171–72. For Spain and Provence, see Sefer haZohar, 93:1–2;
    Aaron b. Jacob haCohen of Lunelle. Sefer Orh·ot H·ayim, ed. Moses Schlesinger (Berlin, 1912), 2:
    nos. 1, 14.


37. Saxer, Rites de l’initiation, 144–48.


38. These foods are mentioned in other medieval sources as well: Siddur Rashi, ed. Jacob
    Freimann and Shlomo Buber (Berlin, 1911), no. 126; Rashi, BT Berakhot 42a, s.v. “Lah·maniyot:
    oublies” and in thirteenth century French sources such as Sefer haMiz·vot leR. Abraham b.
    Ephraim, MS Paris héb 392, fol. 60a, no. 381; MS Paris héb. 393, fol. 42b; 46b; MS Parma 813,
    fol. 118a. For the meaning of the old French words, see Darmsteter and Blondheim, Le Glosses
    françaises, no. 745. See also Buber’s comments in his introduction to Siddur Rashi, LXII, no.


39. 
    


40. For these items in Christian daily life, see Urban T. Holmes, Daily Living in the Twelfth
    Century(Madison, 1952), 80: “The citizens of Paris were very fond of bread and pastry. They loved
    gaufres[waffles], nieules[light pastry], canestel[little cakes], and oublies[wafers].” My thanks to
    Professor H·aym Soloveitchik for referring me to this book.


41. Tosafot, H·ullin 64a, s.v. “Simanin”; MS Paris héb 393, 46b.


42. Supra n. 1.
    43.Lebensalter, 77–80. Löw was especially interested in showing how the ritual stemmed from
    the Jewish tradition. I am less interested in this aspect of the discussion than in the development
    of the medieval ritual. Hamburger (supra. n. 2) also discusses this custom, focusing on the bless-
    ings recited in the synagogue by the parturient; he devotes no attention, however, to the social con-
    text of the custom.


43. R. Jousep (Juspa) Schammes (1604–1678), Minhagim deKehilat Kodesh Wormeisa (Worm-
    ser Minhagbuch)(Jerusalem, 1988), no. 288; See appendix at the end of this chapter.


44. Compare: Roper, Oedipus and the Devil, 199–225.


45. As discussed in the previous chapter, these candles were part of every circumcision ritual,
    p. 62. Already in medieval times, there is discussion of women’s role as candle makers. For exam-
    ple, Dulce, the wife of R. Eleazar b. Judah (Rokeah·), is said to have made candles. See Haber-
    man, Gezerot Ashkenaz veZ·arfat(Jerusalem, 1946), 167.


46. Jousep (Juspa) Schammes, Wormser Minhagbuch, no. 237.


47. This custom may have originated from motives similar to those of the custom of hiding the
    bride’s head under a veil at wedding ceremonies.

NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 217