The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

Pregnancy with a Jewish Twist by Erin Cohen and Andrea Waxman

Chana Weisberg says that "pregnancy and birth take place in an altered spiritual reality, in which the dividing curtain between this world and the next is left slightly open."

Out of this perception, Weisberg during her second pregnancy wrote the book that she had unsuccessfully searched for since her first: "Expecting Miracles: Finding Meaning and Spirituality in Pregnancy Through Judaism" (Urim Publications, hardcover, $27.95). Then living in the Nachloat neighborhood in central Jerusalem which she refers to as "the belly button of the spiritual universe," Weiberg was a young American wife and newly religious woman in Israel.

Through her interactions with the religious women in her neighborhood, she developed an expanded sense of the presence of God in her life. It is interviews with these women -- mothers, midwives and rabbaniot (Jewish women scholars who are also wives of rabbis) -- about the spiritual journeys they made in pregnancy and childbirth that make up the main body of her book. In addition, she included two articles on mystical/Hasidic approaches to birth by teachers of Hasidic philosophy.

After a brief introduction to each woman interviewed, the author presents a transcription of the woman's words with as little editing as possible "to maintain [her] unique voice and style of expression."

The result is a rich textured narrative from their hearts and souls. This glimpse into a world where deeply held faith, mysticism and miracles explain and enrich the mysterious and mundane experiences surrounding motherhood is entertaining, educational and...spiritually inspiring.