Reproductive Experiences

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In contemporary homes, starting a family is often a deliberate choice. The experience of pregnancy, the drama of giving birth, and the miracle of adoption are occasions for joy and wonder. These are also experiences that can be fraught with pain and struggle, reflecting the full spectrum of life and death. We offer prayers for those who are trying to conceive, prayers for pregnancy and childbirth, rituals for parents preparing to adopt, mourning ceremonies for miscarriages, blessings for those struggling with infertility, rituals to prepare for or acknowledge an abortion, and much more.

Latest Rituals

This prayer aims to bring a spiritual presence to the potentially sterile and technological experience of a doctor’s visit

Prayer for those having difficulty conceiving

Biblical verses used to form three prayers before, during, and after artificial insemination

A contemporary poem on the desire to conceive

The couple uses the metaphor of tashlich (casting bread upon the water) as renewal to transform their suffering

A prayer, fashioned after traditional tekhinot, women’s prayers, for a child

A contemporary poem that addresses “the stain” of blood which, when trying to get pregnant, “becomes a sign of failure, of sadness, of emptiness, of death”

A brief prayer before undergoing in vitro fertilization

Personal blessing that God will hear our prayers to allow us to perform mitzvot

Affirmation of wedding blessings when a couple decides to have children

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

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Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

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The Reconstructionist Network