Women - Mother Tongue

Afghanistan

Herat

Dating and mikve

Women's status and men's studies

Algeria

El Oued (Souf)

Mikve (purification bath) in El Oued (Souf)

Wedding and birth customs

Women's education

Ghardaia

School and weaving

Oran

Annette's mother

Bukhara

Dushanbe

Couple's life and women's status

Samarkand

Couple's life and women's status

Engagement, the bride's customs according to the wedding and Sheva Brachot (the seven blessings)

Keeping kosher and mikve

Making vodka and additional women's jobs

Tashkent

Dating, mikve and wedding

Help with raising children, birth and folk beliefs about birth

Keeping kosher and mikve

Caucasus

Baku

Birth, name giving, family and brit mila

Community life and women's status

Derbent

Women's customs, women in the arts and culture

Mountain Jews (Dagestan)

Matchmaking and introduction with the spouse

Wedding customs and life as a married couple

Quba

Birth, caring for babies and a nursery rhyme

Birth, name giving, family and brit mila

Community life and women's status

Women and men's roles and education

Egypt

Cairo

Bat mitzva and wedding

Home birth, tending the mother and family support

Life in the community

Europe: Eastern

Orhei (Moldova)

Leading the bride (Me firt di kale)

Soroca (Moldova)

I take thee (Harey at)

Europe: Western

Endingen

Women in the community

Lucerne

Women in the community

Zurich (Switzerland)

Women in the community

Georgia

Oni

Women's status, passing tradition from mother to daughter and birth

Greece

Aigio

Birth and its ceremonies

India

Iran

Abadan

Meeting, engagement and wedding

Arak

Attitude towards men and women

Bibles stories told by her mother

Birth, folk beliefs and helping the mother

Dating and division of roles

Education and her doctor grandmother

Her maternal grandmother

Virginity test on the wedding day

Women's social status, relationships and the story of her father

Bijar

The status of women

Women's modesty

Borujerd

Lamenting for a mother

Roles of men and women and daily life in the community

Bukan

Giving birth in Kurdistan and the pampering treatment of the new mother

Livelihood and occupations of men and women

Men's professions and women's household chores

Golpayegan

Attitude towards men and women

Beliefs surrounding birth and marriage

Bibles stories told by her mother

Birth, impurity and purity and women's lives

Education and her doctor grandmother

Her maternal grandmother

Meeting my husband

Mikve

Neighborhood and women

Sewing clothes by women

Virginity test on the wedding day

Women's social status, relationships and the story of her father

Gorgan

Dowery

Meeting, engagement and wedding

Hamadan

Motherhood, beliefs around birth and marriage and ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Isfahan

Daily activities: water pumping and washing

Holidays and women's schooling

Matchmaking, wedding, virginity test and giving birth

The Jewish neighbourhood, women's life and weddings

Women, occupation and livelihood

Kashan

Women

Kermanshah

Motherhood, beliefs around birth and marriage and ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Providing for the new mother's wellbeing

Women's occupations at home and men's livelihood in the various stores

Mahabad

Celebration in honor of the birth of a daughter after three sons

Her grandmother as a folk healer

Her mother tending of the shack in the maʿabara (absorption camp)

The work of low-income Jewish women as laundresses

Women's םccupations and status

Saqqez

Births and breastfeedings

Livelihood in Iran and Israel

Providing for the new mother's wellbeing

Women's occupations at home and men's livelihood in the various stores

Shahandasht

Men’s livelihood and the employment of women in need of income

Shiraz

Her mother's early marriage

Meeting, engagement and wedding

Women's occupations and mutual assistance during labor

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) and beliefs surrounding childbirth

Teheran

Birth, beliefs around birth and death

Daily activities: water pumping and washing

Dating and wedding

Female gathering

Matchmaking, mikve, wedding and birth

Meeting her husband and education

Motherhood, beliefs around birth and marriage and ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Sewing clothes by women

Women

Tuyserkan

Sheva Brachot (the seven blessings) and the bride's purification

Birth

Brit mila and the story of his son's birth

Dowery, ḥenna ceremony, wedding and Sheva Brachot (the seven blessings)

Giving birth to a son and a daughter

Medicine, makeup and folk beliefs

Men's attitude towards women

Passover and folk beliefs

Pregnancy and birth

Song for a groom

Story of her doctor grandmother and the king of Persia

Treatment towards women and men's role

Women and inheritance

Urmia

Childbirth, breastfeeding, stillbirth, brit and names

Yazd

Birth: folk beliefs, postpartum assistance, brit mila and giving birth to a son and a daughter

Matchmaking, mikve and Shabbat Kalla (celebratory Shabbat before the wedding)

Iraq

Baghdad

Divorce among Jews

Family life, the Farud and Muslim neighbors protecting her family

Girls' studies in a Christian school

Giving birth in Iraq and Israel

Giving birth to girls in Iraq

Her grandmother's house and the acquaintance between the parents

Housewives, work during childhood, her grandmother the midwife, shopkeeper in the market, her parents' occupations

Immersion in the mikve

Miryam and her brother's escape from Iraq and Aliya to Israel

The relationship between the mother and the mother-in-law, the family home, sleeping on the roof during the summer

Women's status: her grandmother and mother

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Basra

Men's career in trade and minority of working women

Subjects and languages taught at the girls' school

Women's house occupations and relationship between women

Erbil

Birth and beliefs about childbirth and marriage

Women's community, mikve, nidda and immersion before the wedding

Kirkuk

Wedding and women's activities

Tuz Khurmatu

Lighting Shabbat and Hanukka candles, women and reading the Megilla

Relationship with the neighbour and her family

ʿAna

Birth, brit and girl's birth celebration

Immersion in the mikve

Israel

Jerusalem

Song for a grandmother

Ouarzazate

Zahavit talks about her grandmother

Peqi'in

Lighting candles

Tiberias

Eggs and sugar as present for giving birth

Kurdistan

Amedi

Bar mitzva, synagogue and immersion in the frozen river

My mother and her acts of kindness toward the community

Baghdad

Birth and bereavement

Cemetery, women at funerals and washing the deceased

Engagement, wedding, marriage life and domestic violence

Shabbat, men's and women's roles on Shabbat, the synagogue's structure and its customs

Song for a bride

Wedding's celebrations for eight days, mikve and beliefs about a woman giving birth

Diana

Men, women and livelihood

Duhok

Cemetery, women at funerals and washing the deceased

Shabbat, men's and women's roles on Shabbat, the synagogue's structure and its customs

Song for a bride

Wedding's celebrations for eight days, mikve and beliefs about a woman giving birth

Erbil

Spouses, dowries and the relationship between a bride and her mother-in-law

Hasnaka

Dating

Mikve, wedding and brit

Women's occupations, their status, and young girls

Israel

Community and women

Mergasor

Men, women and livelihood

Mosul

Birth

Birth and bereavement

Engagement, wedding, marriage life and domestic violence

History of the mother

Rekan

Groom's Sabbath, matchmaking, immersion and ḥenna

Status of women and men

Sanandaj

Men and women's occupations, matchmaking, wedding and divorce

Sandor

Dating

Mikve, wedding and brit

Women's occupations, their status, and young girls

Sulaymaniya

Birth of a son, tending the mother, synagogue and brit mila

Mixed school, uniform and studying Hebrew

Zakho

Birth

Birth and bereavement

Birth story and midwife gift

Community and women

Engagement, wedding, marriage life and domestic violence

History of the mother

Mikve and Yom Kippur

Raising children and women's lives in Zakho

The Rabbi's wife

Lebanon

Beirut

Grandmother's proverbs

Beirut (Wadi Abu Jamil)

Birth: preparations and customs

Women

Libya

Al-Khums

Abduction of Jewish girls by Muslims

Education and the teaching of women

Leading a bride to the mikve song

Relationship with the Muslims and women's abduction

Amrus

Preparation of a 'kandil': oil lamps with a wick

The girls' Shabbat, bride care and wedding customs

Wisdom of life and the proverb of grandmothers

Az-Zawiya

Births during the stay in the maʿabara (absorption camp)

Congratulations and greetings

Foods and song about tea

Preparation of the bride to her wedding

Women's occupations and men's livelihoods in Libya

Benghazi

Israel

Bushaeff: it's magnificence, the synagogue named after it and celebrations created for it

Misrata

Maqama for women celebrating Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan

Msallata

Avoiding the pronunciation of the words 'fish' and 'five' and rituals to ward off ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Bridal dress and wedding preparations

Her grandmother's blessings for her grandchildren

Seven days before the wedding

Women's occupations, wearing modern clothing and their friendships

Tripoli

About birth: name choosing, brit mila and helping the mother

Bushaeff: it's magnificence, the synagogue named after it and celebrations created for it

Community: life in communes, helping others, keeping mitzvot and nidda

Her mother's life in Israel, charity to the poor and helping others

Her parents' life in Libya: the elder son's passing, the father's livelihood and the mother's role in the kitchen

His family members' professions: education, sewing and dairy farming

Song for a mother

The history of the family: the life story of her mother, giving birth and the language spoken at home

The mother's work as a nurse in Libya with a Muslim sheikh despite the family's concern

Women’s household duties and raising their children, and girls’ schooling

Morocco

Agadir

Candles and light

Her mother's blindness

Jewelry, clothing and makeup

Laundry and shower

Matchmaking and ḥenna ceremony

Modesty and protecting the girls

Women and men's roles and occupations

Agdz

Status of women and matchmaking

Aït Attab

Acquaintance of the couple and wedding

Aït Bouguemmaz

Asammer

Her husband, women's roles and relationship with the Muslims

Nidda

Women's immersion

Asilah

Community and the relationship between men and women

Asslen

Women - cycle of life and status in the community

Aїt Hakim

Shochet (ritual butcher) and writer, shopping in the market, immersion in a mikve

Beni Mellal

A song during the burning of the incense of 'bekhor' and 'atar' (in the scent of incense)

Bu Gammaz

Women's occupations

Casablanca

Birth and brit mila

Birth and tending the mother

Care for the postpartum woman

Ceremony and songs for the single girl to find a husband

Community, cooking and hospitality

Dating, birth and brit mila

Grandmother and mother's Moroccan cuisine and mitzva celebration

Ḥenna at Salé

Her childhood neighborhood and the use of the hammam as a mikve

Infant mortality, infertility and folk medicine

Livelihood in Morocco: her mother’s work for a Christian woman and their good relationship

Marriage at a young age

Pregnancy, birth, brit and relationship with the Muslims

Raḥel's youth

Roles of women and men

Roles of women and the institution of marriage

The mother's sadness over her son's passing and finding renewed strength

Wedding, relationship between the family of the bride and groom and the status of women

Debdou

Boys' and girls' studies and bar mitzva

Dating and mikve

My grandmother the midwife and postpartum care

Demnate

My grandmother and the zodiac calendar

My grandmother, her blessings and work as a healer

El Kelaa des Sraghna

Brit, birth, Rabbis and mikve

Dating and wedding

Gender segregated wedding

Her mother's righteousness and modesty

The birth of a daughter, girls' occupations and studies

The role of midwives, beliefs surrounding birth and the Covenant of Isaac

Women's mikve in the family house and immersion before the wedding

El-Qsar el Kebir

Relationship with the husband, children and friends

Erfoud

A folk ritual of bringing children home from far away

Headcovers for married women and pouring water on newlyweds during Shavuot

Help from the community during birth labour

Men's livelihood and women's homemaking

Fes

Pregnancy, birth, brit mila and zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

Song about a woman separating from a loved one and its meaning

Ighil Noro

Men's livelihood and women's house duties

Wedding, mikve, Chuppa and celebration preparations

Judeo-Arabic

Preparing the bride for the wedding

Raḥel speaks about her mother

Kenitra

Men and women's professions

Preparing foods

Marrakesh

Arranged matches between families, determining the dowry and presenting it in public

Attitude towards men and women

Birth and tending the mother

Dating and my parents' professions

Escorting daughter to the mikve and reaching puberty

Family

Grandma's goody bag full of Tu BiShvat fruit

Her Tunisian husband and her Moroccan cuisine

Names of women's jewelry

Pregnancy, birth, brit mila and zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

School curriculum and sewing at girls' schools

Shabbat foods, hosting Muslim neighbours and women's visit to synagogue

Synagogue

Women's fasting, Fast of Esther and bereavement customs during Tishʿa BeʾAv

Women's professions

Women's roles in the community

Women: housework, bath-house and customs for the birth of the son

Worshiping the holy, folk remedies and ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Meknes

Birth and brit mila

Ceremony and songs for the single girl to find a husband

Education, modesty and bar mitzva

Her mother's life wisdom and clairvoyant ability

Matchmaking, wedding and women's roles

Mikve and ḥenna

Pregnancy, birth, brit and relationship with the Muslims

Shabbat Kalla (the Shabbat before a wedding to honor the bride), ḥenna, mikve, wedding preparations and Rabbis

Tora studies and Shabbat women's class

Women of the family: occupation, cosmetics and mikve

Women's roles and Shabbat

Women's roles in Meknes

Midelt

Women and preparing foods

Mogador (Essaouira)

A married woman immersing at the mikve

Candles and light

Jewelry, clothing and makeup

Laundry and shower

Ouarzazate

Beliefs and care during childbirth

Birth

Bride and mother-in-law relationship

Dowry

Employment relations with Muslim women

Grandmother and mother's Moroccan cuisine and mitzva celebration

Her mother's wise sayings

Immersion in the mikve

Livelihood in Morocco: her mother’s work for a Christian woman and their good relationship

Postpartum care

The mother's sadness over her son's passing and finding renewed strength

The seven days before the wedding

The seven days of preparation for the wedding

Wedding and engagement

Wedding through matchmaking

Women's roles in the community

Women's social status and occupation

Oumnass

Birth and tending the mother

Rabat

Righteous ones and her miraculous story

Safi

Marriage and preparation for childbirth

Preparations for the mikve while singing, preparing couscous after the mikve

The period between the engagement and the wedding, the wedding ceremony and ḥenna

Wedding eve and ceremony for pregnant women in the ninth month

Salé

Dedicated graceful wife

Marriage of relatives

Sefrou

Birth, postpartum assistance and folk beliefs about birth

Synagogues, entering Shabbat and building a mikve due to injury to a woman who immersed in a river

The birth of my sister and the protection of the newborn baby from demons

Skoura

Women's social status and occupation

Talilit

Candles and light

Jewelry, clothing and makeup

Laundry and shower

Taroudant

Medicine and natural products

Religion, modesty and clothing

Tazenakht

Birth, immersion in the mikve and folk beliefs

Timztot

Couscous making, walking to the mikve and singing

Men and women's education

Pregnancy and birth

Status of men and women in the community

Wedding and complementary ceremonies

Unknown

Education and way of life amongst the girls

Zagora

Life and marriage at the village, her husband's occupation, Passover and Mimouna, bus accident, demon, amulet

Sukkot, breastfeeding, child mortality, bereavement, aliya

Zerkten

A salesman who spoke in Berber thinking Rivka didn't understand him

Family members and their occupations

Food in the village and frena bread in Marrakesh

Removal of the ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) from a royalty's wife and ceremony against the ʿAyin Haraʿ

Song in Berber, the language of Rivka's mother, and a song she sang to her brother

Songs in Berber and translation into Moroccan

Treating a disease

Weddings at the village

ǝl-Qǝlʕa dǝ-sraghna'

Women in the community

ישראל

Immersion in the mikve, dowry, wedding customs and birth

תיסינת

Immersion in the mikve, dowry, wedding customs and birth

תירסאל

Immersion in the mikve, dowry, wedding customs and birth

Syria

Aleppo

Change within women's status over the years

Damascus

Folk remedies: baking soda, black coffee, ʿakub and chatmia

Her mother's memories of giving birth in Damascus

Preparing for the birth and helping the mother

Women

Women's community in Damascus

Women's immersion in the mikve before their wedding

Women's occupations, greeting men in the morning and household management

Women's way of living

Women, holidays and community

Tunisia

Ariana

Women's livelihood in Tunisia and in Israel

Djerba

Customs: bsisa, Se'udat Yitro (Feast of Jethro), Daughters' Holiday and Passover

Girls' education

Her mother's poverty, poor girls' marriage and her parents' marriage

Keening and bereavement customs - shiva and first 12 months

Life and wedding at the community of Tataouine

Life in Djerba and connection to the land of Israel

Men's livelihood and women's house duties

Relationship between men and women

Gabes

After birth customs

Clothing and jewellery

Female education - advice from mother to daughter

Female etiquette: modesty, dress, hygiene and make-up

Folk medicine and cosmetics

Giving birth to sons and daughters, immersion in a mikve according to the gender of the newborn, brit mila and folk medicine and beliefs

Health, pregnancy and birth

Jewellery, mikve and ḥenna

Song for son's birthday

Women

Women and men's occupations

Gafsa

Women's gathering, story readings and women's honour

Mahdia

Women's customs and Rosh Ḥodesh for girls

Women's world, immersion in the mikve

Matmata

After birth customs

Female education - advice from mother to daughter

Female etiquette: modesty, dress, hygiene and make-up

Nabeul

Avoiding dairy products and solutions

Coming of age customs for boys and girls

Giving birth at home and at the hospital

Her parents' occupations

Sousse

Women's customs and Rosh Ḥodesh for girls

Women's world, immersion in the mikve

Zarzis

Turkey

Ankara

Holidays and mikve

Argentina

Zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

Edirne

Nursery rhyme that my grandmother sang to me

Women doing the laundry together

Israel

Nursery rhyme that my grandmother sang to me

Song for a bride at the bathhouse

Women doing the laundry together

Istanbul

Finding a job and the class gaps between women and men

Holidays and mikve

Matilda Koen Sarano

Zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

Izmir

Song for a bride at the bathhouse

Yemen

Aḥduf

Successive marriages

Al Hajar

An inter-age marriage and a song about a young woman who marries an old man

Living with trouble (a second wife) and a song about it

Song about an abandoned pregnant woman who committed suicide

Song while grinding wheat

Al Maḥwit

A story about ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) and its removal using the name "Salameh"

Her grandmother's sayings regarding marriage and women

Jewelry, amulets against ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Makin aliya to Israel and her father's aliya 12 years later

Raḥel's relationship with her grandmother

Relations between Jews and Muslims, immersion in a Mosque, performing miracles for Muslims, eye inflammation

Stories of demons told by Raḥel's grandmother

The relationship between Jewish and Muslim women

ʾEfraim's mother: her character, actions and relationship with her family members

Al Qif

Her mother's early life and livelihood

Marriage at the age of six

The synagogue in their home and the prohibiting women to study the tora

Al-Arous

Celebration in honor of the birth of a daughter

Levirate marriage (marriage to a brother’s widow)

Women's jewelry and clothing

Women's occupations in Yemen

Al-Ashur

Folk belief regarding abortion and her mother giving birth

Ḥenna ceremony and the wife's move to her husband's house

Al-Gades

Engagement, wedding and sharing life together

Al-Ghuraba (Saudi Arabia)

Ḥenna, immersion in the river and my mother’s wedding

Women's community and its assistance during ḥenna and childbirth

Wedding and ḥenna songs

Women's prayer during the grinding work

Al-Ḥada

Matchmaking, wedding, event for the bride and postpartum woman

Al-Lajam

Mikve, escorting the bride to the ḥuppa, mohel and beliefs surrounding birth

My mother and relationship with Muslim women

My sister's birth

Arhab

Song for the second wife

Women's work and men's work

Bane Bada

Tora studies for boys and household duties studies for girls

Bani Al Awam

Women's song while grinding flour

Bani Hajaj

Mikve and her mother, the mikve attendant

Mikve and Shabbat

Recitation about the wife and the second wife

Bashar

Jewellery

Mother's work, culinary and learning to read

Baydha

Daughter to mother song

First wife song on the second wife

Bayt an Nasīm (Yarim area)

Bridal entrance song

Recitation when making milk and butter

Recitation while doing housework

Song of the eldest son

Women's recitation

Bayt Baws

Women's roles and polygamy

Dayan

Women’s care, immersion in the mikve and wedding

Dhahran

Her mother's occupation

Dhamar

Gharir

Birth celebration and brit mila

Childbirth and the postpartum period

Childcare

Division of roles between men and women

Women's occupations and respect for the elderly

Ghazieh

Birth and beliefs concerning the baby

Borrowed dress of a poor bride

Love song in which a man is described as a woman

Ḥabban

Birth

Birth

Matchmaking, wedding and woman after birth

Perfume and folk medicine

Perfume and incense

Women's status and children's schooling

Ḥaima

My paretns' occupations, women and men's roles

Preparation of challah, wine and ʿaraq (drink)

Ḥawlan

Eye makeup

Her mother's words and recitation

Marital problems in Yemen

Matchmaking and wedding story

Purim, Ḥenna, wedding and birth

Song about caring for women

Songs for a bride who leaves home

Story about her mother and relation to non-Jews

Ḥaydan

Birth

Ḥaydan as-Sham

"Mother and father, please do not sell me"

Birth, postpartum care and breastfeeding

Matchmaking, immersion in the stream, and songs to accompany the bride

Ḥumar

Ibb

Education, women, community and child tax

Israel

Birth, postpartum care and breastfeeding

Health and beauty

Matchmaking, immersion in the stream, and songs to accompany the bride

Nabat

Men and women relationship and wedding

Women and matzot preparation

Najran (Saudi Arabia)

Her aunts’ support after her mother’s passing

Her mother's passing

Immersion in the well

Immersion of women in rivers and wells

Life wisdom of daughters and mothers

Matchmaking, wedding and ḥenna

Preparing foods for Shabbat: hummus, harees, maḥshoush, ḥalva, zḥug

Preparing laḥuḥ for Shabbat

Relations with the village sheikh and the non-Jewish neighbors

Naʿab

Dress and jewellery

Radaʿa

Folk tale

Raimat and Sa'dah

Childhood in Yemen and girls' roles

Raymah

Mikve, a couple, mahr

Occupations of women and men

Wedding, accompanying the bride and wedding songs

Rusaba

Bride and mother-in-law relationship and ʿayin ḥaraʿ (the evil eye)

Matchmaking, mikve and wedding

Sisterhood, women's clothing and postpartum assistance

Sanaʽa

Women's songs in Yemen

Humility and matchmaking amongst women

Kinds of tahini

Life story and the status of women

Mikve, escorting the bride to the ḥuppa, mohel and beliefs surrounding birth

Modesty proverbs and women

My grandmother and her blessings

My mother and relationship with Muslim women

My sister's birth

Occupation and livelihood, marriage and making aliya

Recitation: women knew when to speak

Reciting and singing about women and love

Status of women in Yemen and in Israel

Story about a woman remarrying at an older age

Women's clothing in celebrations and holidays

Women, folk remedies, foods, and songs

Yemenite women and their status

Sawraq

Girls' teaching in Yemen

Sayan

Birth folk beliefs

Childhood, friendship and foods

Life in Tanˁam

Singing and blessing differences between men and women

Women's mikve purification

Shaghadirah

Mikve and immersion

Sharʿab

Wedding: bride celebration followed by groom's

Sir

Absorption and first birth in the Land of Israel

Story about figs and the Yemenite woman's character

Tanˁam

Birth folk beliefs

Childhood, friendship and foods

Life in Tanˁam

Singing and blessing differences between men and women

Women's mikve purification

Women's social status and education

Yarim

Her familly' livelihood from the production and sale of pottery jars

Matchmaking, ḥenna and wedding songs, the bride's immersion in the cold river, her wedding day

Songs sung by women during the grinding of wheat

Story of Raḥel's mother who snatched a soldier's dagger to prevent him from entering her home

ʿAden

Health and beauty

Way of life and community in ʿAden

ʿAfar

Home births and midwives

Housework: pumping water, carrying wood and grinding flour

ʿAnaka

Women's roles and polygamy

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