Simkhat Yoledet
A ritual to be performed in a women’s group focusing on the new mother
Temenos
A poem that likens the womb’s circles to other circles within Judaism
Blessingway Ceremony
A ceremony for a woman about to give birth, based on the Navajo custom of the blessingway
Birkhot Shamayim Me’al: Pregnancy Song
From Genesis 49:25 and Deuteronomy 7:13
Hannah’s Prayer from Berakhot 31b
A form of this touching prayer in modern English
As at the Creation of Eve
A prayer that may be said before a medical exam for those undergoing fertility treatment/counseling
Hayyei Sarah
The author brings to life the Genesis tale of Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar by locating Sarah and Abraham’s infertility as the central factor motivating the characters’ behavior
Barren (Uri)
Contemporary Israeli prayer expressing desire for a child
Kaddish for the End of Biological Fertility
A moving prayer in which the author, working off the traditional kaddish, mourns her inability to birth a child
A Longing for Children
This essay on grieving the inability to bear children relates the author’s dialogue with her deceased grandmother about whether she has the permission to mourn
