Read Online Rashi's Daughters, Book III: Rachel by Maggie Anton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Maggie Anton
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then bend over the howling infant. This was motzitzin , drawing the blood, and according to the Talmud, any mohel who did not cleanse the baby’s wound with his mouth is a danger and must be dismissed.
Now Miriam was smearing the cut with a salve of olive oil and cumin, the same as she applied after cutting his cord. Since no father was present to whisper the chosen name to Papa before he made the final blessing, Rachel had told him earlier that the boy would be called Asher. When the ceremony was complete, tears of disappointment wet her eyelashes. The cumin Eliezer had imported was here, but he was not.
Seven days had passed since the birth of her son, and though she was still bleeding, she was no longer considered niddah . According to Torah, her blood was dam tahor , “the blood of purity,” and she was permitted to her husband. Talmudic Sages wondered why a woman giving birth to a boy was impure for seven days, while a girl made the mother impure for fourteen days, and give the answer in Tractate Niddah:
Why does the Torah say that milah is done on the eighth day? So that it does not happen that everyone else is joyful while the father and mother are sad.
Papa explained that if the circumcision were done earlier, while the mother was impure, the guests could enjoy themselves at the feast afterward while the parents were forbidden even to touch each other.
So instead of snuggling close to Eliezer, Rachel sat between Papa and Mama at the banquet, baby Asher asleep in her arms, as all her guests ate and drank and danced and laughed and enjoyed themselves—and as she tried to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. She was rescued by Miriam, who had seen quite a few new mothers grow inexplicably melancholy.
Miriam announced, “It’s been three hours since Asher’s brit. I’d like to check if he has wet his swaddling.”
“I’ll come too.” Joheved followed her sisters, her six-month-old son on her hip.
Mama had just joined them at Rachel’s door when they heard a loud masculine voice drunkenly call out, “You are to be congratulated, Rabbenu Salomon. For a man who started out with no sons at all, you now have acquired a minyan between your grandsons and sons-in-law.”
All four women, as well as many in the crowd, gasped in horror. How could anyone, even inebriated, be so reckless as to praise a man’s quantity of male descendants? Such a declaration would surely provoke the Evil Eye to lessen the number.
“Who the devil was that?” Mama’s eyes were blazing.
They strained to see the man, but none of them recognized him.
Rachel could hear voices in the courtyard, hushing the stranger. But he would not be silenced.
“I am certainly correct,” he shouted. “The eldest has three, as does the middle daughter. The youngest now has two, plus their three husbands. That’s ten males—a minyan.”
Mama blanched and Rachel had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting out that he was not correct, that his count totaled eleven. She saw Meir, flushed with fury, forcing his way through the celebrants, and then Miriam took her by the arm and led her sisters inside.
By the time Miriam had checked Asher’s swaddling, which thankfully was wet with urine, and after both Rachel and Joheved had nursed their babies, calm had returned to the feast.
Meir was pacing the floor when they came downstairs. “Nobody knows that boor’s name.” He swore under his breath. “It seems that he heard about the brit milah while attending the May Fair in Provins.”
“What does it matter who he is?” Miriam asked.
“It matters to me.”
Joheved took hold of his hand, hovering close to the knife at his belt. “You’re not going to challenge him. The less attention we pay to him the better.”
“I expect you’re right, but, even so, I asked Shemayah to inquire at the New Synagogue.”
Rachel agreed with Meir. “Once your study partner discovers who this fellow is, we can ensure that his business in Troyes is
Now Miriam was smearing the cut with a salve of olive oil and cumin, the same as she applied after cutting his cord. Since no father was present to whisper the chosen name to Papa before he made the final blessing, Rachel had told him earlier that the boy would be called Asher. When the ceremony was complete, tears of disappointment wet her eyelashes. The cumin Eliezer had imported was here, but he was not.
Seven days had passed since the birth of her son, and though she was still bleeding, she was no longer considered niddah . According to Torah, her blood was dam tahor , “the blood of purity,” and she was permitted to her husband. Talmudic Sages wondered why a woman giving birth to a boy was impure for seven days, while a girl made the mother impure for fourteen days, and give the answer in Tractate Niddah:
Why does the Torah say that milah is done on the eighth day? So that it does not happen that everyone else is joyful while the father and mother are sad.
Papa explained that if the circumcision were done earlier, while the mother was impure, the guests could enjoy themselves at the feast afterward while the parents were forbidden even to touch each other.
So instead of snuggling close to Eliezer, Rachel sat between Papa and Mama at the banquet, baby Asher asleep in her arms, as all her guests ate and drank and danced and laughed and enjoyed themselves—and as she tried to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. She was rescued by Miriam, who had seen quite a few new mothers grow inexplicably melancholy.
Miriam announced, “It’s been three hours since Asher’s brit. I’d like to check if he has wet his swaddling.”
“I’ll come too.” Joheved followed her sisters, her six-month-old son on her hip.
Mama had just joined them at Rachel’s door when they heard a loud masculine voice drunkenly call out, “You are to be congratulated, Rabbenu Salomon. For a man who started out with no sons at all, you now have acquired a minyan between your grandsons and sons-in-law.”
All four women, as well as many in the crowd, gasped in horror. How could anyone, even inebriated, be so reckless as to praise a man’s quantity of male descendants? Such a declaration would surely provoke the Evil Eye to lessen the number.
“Who the devil was that?” Mama’s eyes were blazing.
They strained to see the man, but none of them recognized him.
Rachel could hear voices in the courtyard, hushing the stranger. But he would not be silenced.
“I am certainly correct,” he shouted. “The eldest has three, as does the middle daughter. The youngest now has two, plus their three husbands. That’s ten males—a minyan.”
Mama blanched and Rachel had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting out that he was not correct, that his count totaled eleven. She saw Meir, flushed with fury, forcing his way through the celebrants, and then Miriam took her by the arm and led her sisters inside.
By the time Miriam had checked Asher’s swaddling, which thankfully was wet with urine, and after both Rachel and Joheved had nursed their babies, calm had returned to the feast.
Meir was pacing the floor when they came downstairs. “Nobody knows that boor’s name.” He swore under his breath. “It seems that he heard about the brit milah while attending the May Fair in Provins.”
“What does it matter who he is?” Miriam asked.
“It matters to me.”
Joheved took hold of his hand, hovering close to the knife at his belt. “You’re not going to challenge him. The less attention we pay to him the better.”
“I expect you’re right, but, even so, I asked Shemayah to inquire at the New Synagogue.”
Rachel agreed with Meir. “Once your study partner discovers who this fellow is, we can ensure that his business in Troyes is
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