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Welcoming & Raising Children

Close-up of adult hands with rings holding a childs hand, symbolizing family and unity.

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.

Latest Rituals

Phrases from the Bible are used to form an acrostic of the child’s name – a tradition in ceremony and prayer – in this welcoming ceremony for an adopted son who has not yet undergone conversion.

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Celebrating the gift of life through faith, love, and courage
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A blessing of gratitude

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A mother expresses her ambivalence about circumcision in this powerful letter
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A letter from a father to his son about his conflicted decision to circumcise him

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How Jewish feminism is influencing this boys’ ritual and enlarging meaning
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An intermarried mother reflects on her son’s bris (circumcision)

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The biblical foundation of the centuries-old Sephardic tradition for welcoming a newborn girl
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Frameworks for the style of a welcoming and naming ritual

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Practical matters and traditions to consider for a baby naming ceremony

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The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

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The Reconstructionist Network