עברית
Halachot and Customs
May a New Mother Leave Her Home?
Question
Hello Rabbi.
1. Is there a source for the custom that a new mother and her baby are forbidden to leave their home for 40 days, especially at night?
2. Is there also a concern about hanging the baby's laundry outside at night, or are these just superstitions?
Answer
Hello and blessings,
These matters have no source in Judaism; they likely originated from non-Jewish neighbors abroad. They are all superstitions that should not be believed or feared at all. It is a pity for a new mother to be imprisoned in her home for 40 days...
I will quote what Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef wrote in *Yabia Omer*, (Vol. 18, p. 225, s.v. However, despite this): "A wise and understanding person in the ways of Hashem should distance himself from all vain and delusional sayings that those lacking wisdom have adopted. Such as those who say that a new mother may not enter the house of a bride and groom for forty days lest she cause the bride to be barren. And conversely, for the bride who enters the house of a new mother. These are merely the idle chatter of foolish people lacking in understanding. It is possible that they learned this from neighbors in foreign lands who are not of the Jewish people... And regarding all matters that arise from natural reasoning and intellect, one should distance them as far as a bowshot away."
Blessings,
Menashe Ben Porat
These matters have no source in Judaism; they likely originated from non-Jewish neighbors abroad. They are all superstitions that should not be believed or feared at all. It is a pity for a new mother to be imprisoned in her home for 40 days...
I will quote what Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef wrote in *Yabia Omer*, (Vol. 18, p. 225, s.v. However, despite this): "A wise and understanding person in the ways of Hashem should distance himself from all vain and delusional sayings that those lacking wisdom have adopted. Such as those who say that a new mother may not enter the house of a bride and groom for forty days lest she cause the bride to be barren. And conversely, for the bride who enters the house of a new mother. These are merely the idle chatter of foolish people lacking in understanding. It is possible that they learned this from neighbors in foreign lands who are not of the Jewish people... And regarding all matters that arise from natural reasoning and intellect, one should distance them as far as a bowshot away."
Blessings,
Menashe Ben Porat
