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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

The Structure of the Ceremony

Frameworks for the style of a welcoming and naming ritual [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: welcoming

Choosing the Date and Time of the Ceremony

Practical matters and traditions to consider [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: naming

Mystery of the Covenant: A New Ceremony of Simchat Brit

Bringing the status and symbolism of covenant to the ceremony for welcoming and naming a daughter [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: naming, welcoming

Lechi Lach

"Lechi lach to a place that I will show you/Lech lecha to a land you do not know…" —song by Debbie Friedman, z"l based on God's words to Abraham to seek his destiny. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Torah Portion: Parashah, Becoming a Jewish Adult, Traveling, Choosing & Affirming a Jewish Life, Endings & Beginnings, Growing Older, Everyday Holiness

Tags: Debbie Friedman, Lekh Lekha

Ki Orech Yamim: wishes for a long life

From Proverbs 3:2 [more]

Found In: Welcoming & Raising Children, Becoming a Jewish Adult, Shabbat

Mal’ach haBrit: Angel of the Covenant

Addressing Elijah, the traditional "guest" at the ceremony [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: circumcision, Elijah

Olamcha: Your World

From Talmud Brachot 17a [more]

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

On Children

Lyrics adapted from the poem "On Children" by Kahlil Gibran author of The Prophet [more]

Found In: Welcoming & Raising Children, Parenting Day-to-Day

Shalom Yalda: Shalom Little Girl

Adapted from the Brit Milah liturgy [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: welcoming

World of Your Dreams (Andy’s Bar Mitzvah Song)

"May you live to see your world fulfilled"—song by Debbie Friedman, z"l - based on Talmud Berachot 17a [more]

Found In: Bar / Bat Mitzvah, Covenant & Naming Rituals, Choosing & Affirming a Jewish Life