Vow Of Silence Puts Newborn Baby's Life at Risk

An orthodox Jewish woman in Jerusalem risked the life of her newborn child to allow herself complete her vow of silence. The woman took the vow of silence which would finish at the end of Shabbat on Saturday night; however, the woman gave birth Saturday morning. So she hid the baby under her dress with the umbilical cord still attached, put the placenta in a bag and waited in her house. Medics were not alerted until the husband went to a rabbi for a blessing for the child and it the Rabbi who called the hospital. When paramedics arrived they were not allowed see the woman or child. A rabbinical tribunal was performed to relinquish the woman from her vow but even after that she still refused to speak or even communicate in any form. Eventually police and rescue teams had to use force to separate the mother from the child, cut the umbilical cord and rush the pair to a hospital. Ariel Atias, one of the paramedics, said ‘it's a miracle the baby is safe and healthy, the incident could have ended badly’.

Every natural maternal instinct puts the well-being of the child ahead of everything else. Somehow dogmatic religion has forced a woman to put her child’s life at risk. Unfortunately this is not an isolated case: children are being abused and killed at exorcisms, babies are contracting herpes at barbaric circumcision ceremonies, parents deny their children life saving transfusions during surgeries, children are dying because their parents bring them to faith healers instead of a hospital. Religion is the only force in the world which can override natural paternal instincts and force parents to put their child’s life at risk for fear they disobey their religious doctrine.