Join Jewish educator and musician Miriam Schwartz for some sweet and spiritual Jewish story time. Hear the story about the angel Lailah, from the Midrash, that explains why we have a little indentation (Cupid's bow) on our upper lips.
"Before You Were Born retells the Jewish myth of Lailah, the angel of conception. According to this midrash, there is an angel, Lailah, who brings the soul and the seed together and then sees to it that the seed is planted in the womb. In doing so, Lailah serves as a midwife of souls. While the infant grows in the womb, Lailah places a lighted candle at the head of the unborn infant, so he or she can see from one end of the world to the other.
So too does the angel teach the unborn child the entire Torah, as well as the history of his or her soul. Then, when the time comes for the child to be born, the angel extinguishes the light in the womb and brings forth the child into the world. And the instant the child emerges, the angel lightly strikes its finger to the child’s lip, as if to say “Shh,” and this causes the child to forget everything learned in the womb. Still, the story implies, that knowledge is present, merely forgotten, much like the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious." - Howard Schwartz
Hi there my name is Miriam Schwartz
and this is my niece Ava
and today we're gonna read you a story called "Before You Were Born"
that is based on a Jewish folktale
about the angel Lila and this story was written by my father
folklorist Howard Schwartz, Ava's grandfather.
One night when you were little
and the moon was full, you climbed into my lap
"Tell me a story!" you said, "about before I was born."
and you snuggled closer and listened.
Before you were born I said,
your soul made its home in the highest heaven in
the Treasury of souls.
The angel Lailah watched over you.
One day a heavenly voice went forth
announcing to all of the angels that
the time had come for you to be born.
Then the angel Lailah led your soul out of the treasury of souls
and brought you down to this world.
Once you were here, Lailah told your soul to
enter a seed then Lailah brought that seed to your mother
and you started to grow inside of her.
While you were growing there Lailah lit a
lamp inside your mother's womb and read to you from the book of secrets.
As you slept, Lailah taught you all of the secrets in
the whole wide world.
She taught you 70 languages.
The languages of all of the animals
and language of the wind.
She even taught you the history of your soul and she
revealed all of the past and the future to you.
Most of all she told you many good stories.
And even though you were asleep,
you listened to all those delightful tales and you loved them.
Finally the time came for you to be born.
Then the angel Lailah led you out into the world
but the moment that you were born
Lailah put her finger to your lips
reminding you to keep everything that
she had taught you a secret.
That is how you got the indentation on your upper lip.
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
It is a reminder of all that Lila taught you
before you were born and all you have forgotten.
And you ran your finger above your lip
and sure enough there was an indentation there!
But don't worry,
you have the rest of your life to learn all those wondrous secrets again.
Thank you for listening today.
