My great grandmother, Gitla Sztejrin, was a Russian Jewish midwife in the early 1900's. My grandfather had told my father that he remembered the day when someone from the Czar's palace arrived on horseback to deliver a special document from the Czarina to Gitla which was an official "permission" for the practice of midwifery. What was the reason for this? Would you believe that Jewish midwives had to have "royal permission" to help gentile women deliver their babies?
My great grandmother, Gitla Sztejrin, was a Russian Jewish midwife in the early 1900's. My grandfather had told my father that he remembered the day when someone from the Czar's palace arrived on horseback to deliver a special document from the Czarina to Gitla which was an official "permission" for the practice of midwifery. What was the reason for this? Would you believe that Jewish midwives had to have "royal permission" to help gentile women deliver their babies?