Welcoming & Raising Children

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.

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To recite when the baby is born or at the ceremony

Three categories of verses commonly recited at a naming ceremony

The traditional priestly blessing for a congregation, directed to the newborn

Optional blessings for a baby naming ceremony

Grandparents blessing for a baby naming

The baby’s feet are washed in a number of ceremonies either as a symbol of covenant or as a symbol of welcome

Traditional blessing of welcome at a baby naming ceremony

A slightly longer version of the traditional blessing for welcoming a baby at a babynaming ceremony

A variety of selections from scripture

Traditional liturgical poem (piyut) for welcoming the baby, also known as “Donash ben Labrat” in Ladino

The Reconstructionist Network

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