Sefer HaMiddot, Children, Part II/ספר המדות·בנים·חלק שני

1A person who feels the pains of child rearing should recite daily the Torah sections that depict Creation (Genesis 1). Reading this also saves one from being falsely accused of stealing.

2Humbling oneself is a segulah for having children.

3Planting a vineyard is harmful for the raising of infants.

4The effort one makes to redeem captives is a segulah for having children.

5Reciting the Maamadot is a segulah for having children.

6A woman whose children die from diphtheria should bathe her [other] children in oil and then light this oil at the time of her ritual immersion.

7Whoever defends his faith against many people, countering them with convincing arguments, will, because of this, be worthy of many children. His progeny will fill the world.

8Silver shaped into the Hebrew letter ה (heh) is a segulah for being fruitful and multiplying.

9Sometimes, the structure of a house prevents the woman [living there] from bearing children. When the beams in the structure are not positioned in the manner designated for them since the six days of Creation, the house is considered a ruin even while standing. This ruin harms the woman and she cannot bear offspring.

10One should seek out a mohel who is both righteous and God-fearing. For when the mohel lacks expertise, the circumcision can, God forbid, cause the infant to be sterile, or an epileptic.

11When a person’s son engages in Torah study, it is as if that person never dies.

12The milk of a righteous woman provides the child with the fear of Heaven and gives him mastery in this world.

13A person who causes a fellow Jew to fall from faith suffers childlessness.

14When there is peace in the country, the Jewish people are blessed with children who will be instructors of Torah law.

15When one is careful that his marital relations are at a time when neither he nor the time itself are exceedingly hot or cold, the children born to him will be very wise.

16When a person controls his evil inclination, his children do not follow evil ways. Because of this his money is plentiful, and consequently he will not come to be tested.

17Even if she herself is righteous, a woman lacking distinguished lineage might have indecent children.

18When grain is abundant in the world, it is a sign that males will be born; when wine is abundant, it is a sign that females will be born.

19One who has no son should regularly bring gifts to Torah scholars and recite the portion of bikkurim (Deuteronomy 26:1-11). He should also learn a great deal of Talmud and minimize his study of Aggadah, which is a segulah for having daughters.

20Mastering the study of Halakhic codifiers so that one is able to instruct others causes many barren women to conceive.

21Being taken captive sometimes spares a person the loss of his children.

22By giving charity one merits having children.

23A segulah for eliminating the difficulty a woman has in childbirth is to hang the cemetery key around her neck. This key is also a segulah for healing barrenness.

24A man who experiences a seminal emission [should be concerned that] his children will die.

25When used in building a bed, there are certain types of wood that will hinder conception and child rearing, and other types that are beneficial for conception and raising one’s children.

26A man whose children die young should have the mother of a remaining child make a garment for that child to wear until he grows up.

27When the Jewish people are fruitful and multiply, the nations issue new decrees against us.

28The suffering that a person endures is beneficial for bearing children.

29Thorns are a segulah for bearing children.

30Whoever is born circumcised clearly has a good and wholesome imagination.