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Covenant & Naming Rituals

Historically, Jewish people have formally welcomed boys into the covenant with God, marking the occasion with celebration and circumcision. The birth of a girl was met with joy, but no ritual or communal celebration. We offer a variety of ways to formally welcome both girls and boys. You’ll also find naming rituals and blessings for parents, grandparents and children.

Photo by Jordan Cassway

On the Blessing of Children

Prayer

A traditional Yiddish techine [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: tekhine

Blessings for the Conclusion of the Meal

Prayer

Revised Traditional "Harachaman" [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Blessings for Food

Tags: birkat hamazon

Secular Humanist Meditation

From Humanistic Judaism, Winter/Spring 1999 "Creating a Baby Naming Ceremony," (Beth Haskala, Rochester Society for Humanistic Judaism.) | Reading

A parents' pledge to their infant son [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Supplemental Verses to Grace After the Meal

From the Itim Institute | Ritual Component

For optional incorporation into the ceremony [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Blessings for Food

Tags: birkat hamazon, Sephardi

Planting a Sapling

From the Itim Institute | Ritual Component

A tradition dating from the Talmudic era [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: tree planting

Talmud Ta'anit 23a

Reading

A talmudic story about tree planting [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

With All My Heart

By Rabbi Maggie Wenig, adapted from the poem by Rabbi Judy Shanks | Poem

A mother's prayer for the health and well-being of her new baby and the wisdom to raise her [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Bring Me Good Guarantors

from Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:24 | Prayer

A reading based on a traditional text in which God withholds the Torah from the Jews until they can offer good guarantors. God rejects the ancestors and the prophets, but accepts the children as good guarantors. Can be said by grandparents. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

The Brit of Ayelet Kalila Vivianne Cohler-Esses

By Larry and Dianne Cohler-Esses | Complete Ceremony

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. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: covenant, Elijah, naming, welcoming

Covenant of Creation

By Tikva Frymer-Kensky, z"l | Poem

A modern poem based on biblical texts [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Childbirth