Geburtskultur / Birth Culture

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In Judaism, the beginning of life was celebrated with a variety of religious rituals. The Jewish Museum in Basel preserves objects - including many birth-related artifacts - from Switzerland and the neighboring regions of Alsace to southern Germany dating back as far as the 17th century. The collection offers insight into a largely lost world of faith, fears, hope and happiness. Among the objects are amulets to protect mothers and children, wimples to bind boys to the Torah, pillows for circumcision, birth registers of circumcisers ("mohel books"), and cradles for Hollekreisch. Texts by Tali Berner, Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek, Uri Robert Kaufmann and Daniela Schmid are complemented by interviews with Dinah Ehrenfreund-Michler, Aviv Szabs, and Esra Weill explain the customs and the objects that museums preserve.