Register of a Jewish Midwife

This is the book of the generations/children of man, those that were born by my hands among the Hebrew women. I came to them, I the midwife, for they are vital [Exodus 1:15–19] and give birth to a son or daughter. I took this book as my possession, and I recorded in it the name of those giving birth with the name of the newborn, with the date of birth, so that it should be a remembrance from the day I began this occupation and forward. And I prayed to the Lord above that he should strengthen me and give me courage and not let my hands falter while I am engaged in this profession, and may no obstruction be caused by my hands, heaven forbid, neither to the woman sitting on the birthing stool nor to the newborn about to be born: Only let it be expelled from the uterus like an egg from a hen. And these are the children of Israel who were born by my hands. In addition to this, I took another book and there I wrote in Dutch script the names of those born by my hand among gentile women here in Groningen, Sunday, 1 Kislev in the year “I am the midwife.” Roza wife of Leizer bar Moshe Yehuda, long may he live. [16 November 1794]