Torah for today: Miscarriage
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here
Analysis

Torah for today: Miscarriage

Following tragic revelations that the Duchess of Sussex had a miscarriage,  Rabbi Garry Wayland offers an Orthodox perspective on dealing with the trauma

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will give a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will give a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey

The Duchess of Sussex revealed last weekend that she had a miscarriage a few months ago. What does the Torah say about this sensitive issue?

“Rav Simlai (who lived in the third century) taught: To what is the baby in the mother’s womb compared? To a folded book… Her mouth is closed, the umbilical cord is open: she eats what the mother eats and drinks, and her waste does not kill the mother. When she comes into the air of the world, what is opened closes and what is closed opens – otherwise she could not last for one hour. 

“There they teach her the entire Torah and once she emerges into the air of the world, an angel comes and taps her on the lips to forget it all. And they make her swear an oath: be righteous and not a sinner!”

Thus reads one of the most poignant passages in the Talmud, describing prelife in utero: a miraculous fusion of physical and spiritual, the body – still, calm, being sustained through counterintuitive physical process. The soul – part of but beyond: seeing the essence of everything, learning divine wisdom.

The mother, bearing this precious responsibility, prays and waits for the moment when everything will change – for when ‘what is opened closes, what is closed opens’ – the traumatic birth pangs, the miraculous moments, followed by joy and relief. 

Yet painfully, tragically, this moment does not come for many: she is a custodian for a few months, but no more. Silently, alone, often unbeknown to her family and friends. 

The passage concludes, “God is pure, his angels are pure, and the soul He gave you is pure…” 

Sometimes this purity is too much for this world: the soul may be above or beyond, not for this particular time. 

May God grant every mother, who was unable to see the purity of the soul that was entrusted to her for long enough, comfort and strength, and may He grant all of us the sensitivity, insight and depth to support them.

  •  Rabbi Garry Wayland is a teacher and educator for
    US Living and Learning

• Anyone affected by this issue can contact The Miscarriage Association (www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk) or Chana (www.chana.org.uk)

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: