This article examines ancient Jewish literature on children, particularly with regard to infanticide and abortion, and situates these practices within broader historical, cultural, and geographic contexts. By distinguishing descriptive accounts from prescriptive traditions, as well as commentary from later interpretive sources, the study reveals a nuanced and multifaceted portrait of Jewish child history. Evidence of ritual infanticide, primarily through child sacrifice, is most prominent in the pre-exilic period around Israel and Judah. Later references, particularly from the Hellenistic and early Roman Diaspora communities in Alexandria and Asia Minor, include non-ritual parental infanticide and the earliest mentions of abortion. While some prescriptions condemn these practices, others appear to demand them, complicating assumptions about uniform Jewish opposition. Overall, the analysis highlights significant variation across time and place, underscoring the need to resist absolute claims about Jewish child-rearing values in antiquity and to recognize parallels with Greco-Roman traditions.
Angela Murphy (Sun,) studied this question.