Imeinu Doulas: Providing spiritual support to prospective, new Jewish mothers

• Author: Rivkah Lambert Adler
• Published date: 07 January 2021
• Date: 07 January 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Imeinu Doulas began modestly with a team of Jewish doulas, companions who are trained to care for and offer support to women in childbirth. Since then, "Imeinu evolved into a professional development entity for networking, mentoring, increasing business visibility and exchange of ideas," among birth workers and "wellness professionals serving women and families during the childbearing years and all stages of life," explained Imeinu Doula founder Naama Rue.

Today, the Imeinu Collective has 70 members, all of whom are personally screened by Rue to ensure they are "aligned with our mission," she noted. The collective provides professional development activities for its members and helps promote the practices of individual members directly to prospective clients.

Imeinu members have sponsored public education events such as panel presentations by maternal and infant health experts and childbirth preparation classes for expectant mothers and their partners.

Weaving Jewish content into their public programs, Imeinu has offered tours of local mikvaot (ritual baths), group visits to Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, Rosh Hodesh (New Moon) programs and gatherings on the yahrtzeit, the anniversary of the death, of the matriarch Rachel.

Birth Torah series

"Even among religious women, training as a doula, midwife, nurse or birthworker has a medical focus, with little attention to the important spiritual rite of passage that childbirth is," Rue explained.

To help close that gap, Imeinu member Ariela Sharon Yomtovian created Birth Torah, a series of four weekly classes scheduled to begin on January 13. Classes will focus on conception and fertility, pregnancy, birth and postpartum issues. Each class, taught by a different expert, is designed to connect "science with Jewish law and Jewish birth traditions," Yomtovian explained.

"The series is designed to uncover the many Jewish traditions around birth. Thank God, Judaism has so much to offer in this area, and we are excited to bring all of that information to life, making it more accessible to Jewish women around the world. Through the wisdom that our faith has to offer, we can create a more meaningful and fulfilling birth journey," Yomtovian said about her vision for this series.

Describing a client who was anxious about how COVID-19 and the general chaos in the world might impact her unborn child, Yomtovian explained how being grounded in Jewish tradition can help pregnant women cope.

"Rather than focus on what she could not...