The observant Jewish mother and father experience these feelings in an especially profound way. They are eager to fulfill the Biblical command to be fruitful and multiply, and concerned to start the life of a child in an auspicious manner leading to a lifetime of Torah observance and mitzvos. Amid all the excitement they are surprised by the innumerable questions arising for the first time in their lives. Some of these relate directly to the birth of a child: Can I drive to the hospital just before the end of Shabbos if the baby will be born after Shabbos? Is induction of labor sanctioned by halachah? Can we name our son before his bris, if the bris will be delayed for a long time? The obstetrician suggests performing amniocentesis to check for birth defects, does halachah sanction this?

Other questions arise incidentally. May a non-Jew take me in the hospital elevator on Rosh Hashanah in order to hear shofar? Can I make kiddush even if I can only drink a small quantity of wine or grape juice? Can I daven while I have a catheter attached? Rabbi Yisroel Dov Webster's Yad LeYoledes: The Halachos of Pregnancy and Childbirth is the ultimate guide to all these issues. A landmark accomplishment, it was compiled in the course of nearly twenty years of public and private teaching of these and other areas of Jewish law. Reading it is like having an expert rabbi at your side, day and night. In lucid and readable terms it outlines the halachic teachings related to every aspect of pregnancy and childbirth.

The Halachos of Pregnancy and Childbirth is not just a book for the layman and woman, but also for the rabbi and the scholar. The erudition of its distinguished author is evident throughout the hundreds of detailed explanatory notes. The in-depth presentations of major halachic questions in the kovetz habiurim at the end of the book are halachic masterpieces, and have earned the enthusiastic approbations of great Poskim in the U.S. and in Eretz Yisroel. Seldom has anew work dealt so comprehensively with such a complex topic.

The author, Rabbi Yisroel Dov Webster, serves as a Dayan at Yeshiva Emek Halacha in Brooklyn, NY. Rabbi Webster has delivered lectures on halacha to large audiences of men and women in the New York communities for over fifteen years. His total command of these halachos and exceptionally clear and comprehensible presentation have earned him a large and enthusiastic following. C.I.S. Publishers is confident that The Halachos of Pregnancy and Childbirth will become a Torah classic and is proud to make it available to the public.

"Reading this book, one is struck by the enormous effort and exhaustive research evident in it... from what I have seen his comments and interpretations are worthy of publication and very beneficial to those who study these laws."

"I saw that he succeeded in acquiring the thorough Torah knowledge which comes only from great effort, and as a result... a rich treasury of all the halachos and concerns regarding these matters... with references and explanations to clarify the derivation of each halachah and each minhag. All of this is explained and arranged in a very clear and readable form with good judgement and skill."