While a fetus is in its mother’s womb, all its needs are cared for, and it even learns the entire Torah. Its stay there is so pleasant that it is forced to leave against its will, but not before the fetus is made to take an oath that it will follow the upright path in the world.

Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa taught: The angel appointed over conception is called: Night. And this angel takes a drop of semen and presents it before the Holy One, blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will become of this drop? [Will it produce one who is] mighty or weak, clever or stupid, wealthy or poor? But the angel does not say: Will the person be wicked or righteous?

Rabbi Simlai taught: To what can a fetus in its mother’s womb be compared? It can be compared to a ledger that is folded and arranged: Its hands on its two temples, its two elbows on its two shanks, its two heels on its two buttocks. Its head is placed between its knees, its mouth is closed, and its umbilicus is open. It eats from what its mother eats, and it drinks from what its mother drinks, and it does not expel excrement lest it kill its mother. Once it emerges into the atmosphere of the world, the closed [its anus] opens, and the open [its umbilicus] closes, as otherwise it could not live for even one hour.

A lamp is kindled for it above the fetus’s head [in the womb], and it gazes from one end of the world to the other. The angels teach the fetus the entire Torah…but when it emerges into the atmosphere of the world, an angel comes and slaps it on the mouth, and causes it to forget the entire Torah….

The fetus does not emerge from the womb until angels administer an oath to it…and what is the oath that they administer to the fetus? Be righteous and do not be wicked; and even if the entire world says to you: You are righteous, consider yourself wicked. Know that the Holy One, blessed be He, is pure, and His ministers are pure, and the soul that He placed within you is pure. If you preserve it in purity, good; but if not, I will take it from you....

The Sages taught: During the first three months of pregnancy, the fetus resides in the lower compartment of the womb; in the middle three months, the fetus resides in the middle compartment; and during the last three months, the fetus resides in the upper compartment. Once its time to emerge arrives, it overturns and emerges.

The Holy One, blessed be He, says to the spirit of man: Enter into this drop of semen…the spirit begins to speak and says before God: I am satisfied with the world where I have resided from the day You created me. Why do You wish to insert me into this putrid drop, as I am holy and pure, and I am cut from the cloth of Your glory?

Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to the spirit: The world into which I am introducing you is better for you than that in which you reside. From the moment I created you, I created you only for this drop. Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, places the spirit there against its will, and then the angel returns and places the spirit into its mother’s womb.

They prepare two angels for the spirit, and they guard it so that it will not emerge from there and it will not be miscarried…and one angel takes it and leads it to the Garden of Eden and shows it the righteous sitting in glory with their crowns on their heads. The angel says to that spirit: Do you know who these are? The spirit says to the angel: No, my lord. The angel again says to it: These who you can see were originally created like you within their mother’s womb, and they emerged to the world and observed the Torah and mitzvot, which is why they merited and they encountered this goodness that you see….

In the evening, the angel leads the spirit to Gehenna and shows it the wicked there…and that angel further says to that spirit: Do you know who these are? The spirit says: No, my lord. The angel says to it: These who are burning in the fires of Gehenna were created like you, and they emerged to the world but they did not observe the Torah and the statutes of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is why they received the ignominy that you see….

The angel walks with the spirit from morning to evening, and he shows it the place where it is destined to die and the place where it is destined to be buried. He then leads it and walks with it across the entire world and shows it the righteous and the wicked, and shows it everything. In the evening the spirit returns into its mother’s womb, and the Holy One, blessed be He, fashions for it there a lock and doors.

Eventually, its time comes to emerge into the world. Immediately, that same angel comes and says to the spirit: At this designated hour, your time to emerge into the world will arrive. The spirit says to the angel: Why do you wish to take me out into the world?… The spirit does not wish to emerge from the womb until the angel strikes it and extinguishes the lamp that is lit above its head, and takes it out into the world against its will. Immediately, upon its emergence from the womb, the baby forgets everything it saw and everything it knows. Why does a baby cry upon its emergence into the world? It is because it has lost a place of respite and well-being; and [it cries in longing for the world] from which it emerged. (Nidda 16b, 30b; Tanĥuma, Pekudei)