We greet each child with affection and joy. Every baby comes to us full of promise and potential. As parents, we are privileged to welcome them into our families, our communities, and the embrace of the Jewish people. Raising children to adulthood, we encounter many milestones along the way. Children are weaned, lose their teeth, and start school. Some get their driver’s licenses and eventually leave home for good. Here are rituals for welcoming children and for celebrating the milestones on their paths to adulthood.
For optional incorporation into a baby naming ceremony
A mother’s prayer for the health and well-being of her new baby and the wisdom to raise her
A reading based on a traditional text in which God withholds the Torah from the Jews until they can offer good guarantors
An original baby-naming ceremony using biblical images of the covenant which are not tied to gender. The ceremony makes use of henna as a symbol of the blood of the covenant.
Draws on traditional Sephardic Zeved Habat ceremony and adds new rituals, including Miriam’s chair and modern poetry
A welcoming ceremony for twins
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