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Pregnancy

It is a blessing to create and carry life in our bodies. These prayers and rituals help us live this experience to its fullest, focusing our attention on its sacredness.
Photo by Rabbi Roni Handler

Nes Gadol Haya Sham: A Great Miracle Happened There

Shared by Rabbi Rachel Greengrass | Reading

A reading for a baby naming on Hanukkah [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Childbirth, Pregnancy

Tags: conception, naming

B'reishit - An Alternative Baby Shower

Shared by Rabbis Julie Pelc Adler, Sharon Morton, Rachel Adler, and Laurel Coppersmith | Complete Ceremony

A ritual that combines making gifts and sharing intentions for the new parents and baby-to-be, as well as making gifts for babies in need of extra support [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: shehekheyanu

Life in the Womb

Based on the Zohar | Reading

A fanciful account, based on the Zohar, a mystical text, describing a baby's life in the womb, during which time, a candle burns over the baby's head enabling her to see from one end of the universe to the other and the angels teach her all of Torah. [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: conception

Blessing for a Mother-to-Be

By Rabbi Shohama Wiener | Complete Ceremony

A prayer to be said by a group of friends or family for a woman close to giving birth using the symbolic red thread from Rachel's Tomb. A Ceremony for a Baby Shower. [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: red thread

Celebrating Pregnancy

By Michelle Klein | Ritual Component

Describes the customs of Sephardic Jews who celebrated a woman's first pregnancy by cutting the swaddling clothes at a festive gathering of women [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: Sephardi

M'ugelet

By Rabbi Jane Litman | Complete Ceremony

It is customary for pregnant women and women seeking to become pregnant to offer prayers to Rachel, Judaism's mater dolorosa. Specifically, women visit Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem, wrap a red cord around the tomb, then cut it into smaller pieces which they tie around their own wrists. This ritual for a pregnant woman is based on this custom. [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: red thread

A Prayer to be Said upon Entering the Ninth Month of Pregnancy

By Dr. Giuseppe Cohen, translated by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin | Prayer

From an Italian collection of 18th century prayers for married women written by Dr. Giuseppe Cohen and presented to his bride as a wedding gift. [more]

Found In: Morning Service, Pregnancy

Tags: Amidah

Temenos

By Tikva Frymer-Kensky, z"l | Poem

A poem that likens the womb's circles to other circles within Judaism [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Blessingway Ceremony

By Andrea Mass | Complete Ceremony

A ceremony for a woman about to give birth, based on the Navajo custom of the blessingway [more]

Found In: Pregnancy

Tags: Debbie Friedman, Debbie Friedman, havdalah

Birchot Shamayim Me’al: Pregnancy Song

Music by Lamelle Ryman | Song

From Genesis 49:25 and Deuteronomy 7:13 [more]

Found In: Pregnancy