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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.

Photo by Jordan Cassway

Welcoming Daughters

Looking at a baby girl and feeling the joy of celebrating who she is and who she will become are wonderful experiences. A welcoming foot washing ceremony is one way of concretizing that joy. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: birthdays

Brief Meditation for Name Change Ceremony

Name changes can be both liberating and intimidating. Taking a brief moment to recognize the holiness of the act, and to affirm the dignity of the recipient of the new name, can be transformative. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Endings & Beginnings

Tags: name change, naming

Blessing for My Daughter at Her Bat Mitzvah

A mother's blessing for her daughter's journey into adulthood [more]

Found In: Bar / Bat Mitzvah, Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: tallit, tzitzit

A Ritual That Can Cut Both Ways

The concept of circumcision is both a deeply powerful ritual practice and a profoundly troubling remnant of a different time.  [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: circumcision

Adapted Traditional Bris Milah Ceremony

Shifting the focus away from the circumcision and toward welcoming [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: circumcision, gomel, mi sheberakh, priestly blessing, tekhine, welcoming

A Tekhine For A New Mother

A prayer in English and Yiddish to be recited on the occasion of a son's bris [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: circumcision, tekhine, Yiddish

A Welcoming Ritual

Awakening a child's senses by anointing with oil and sharing inspirational verses [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: covenant, welcoming

Elijah Comes Tonight

A fun rendition for welcoming Elijah into your home [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Ending Shabbat: Havdalah, Songs at the Seder Table

Tags: Elijah

Prayer for Making First Decisions About Gender for a Child

Prayer for Jewish parents as they name, welcome, and make first decisions about gender for their child [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Gender & Sexual Identity

Tags: LGBTIQ, naming, welcoming