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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

Baby Announcement

A simple baby announcement [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Parental Prayer

Traditional prayer for parents to say over a new baby in Hebrew and English [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Traditional Parental Blessing

This blessing is traditionally used every Friday evening by parents when blessing their children. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Friday Evening

Tags: at the shabbat table, Marcia Falk, priestly blessing

Tree-Planting Ritual

Traditionally, a cypress tree was planted when a daughter was born and a cedar for a son. Their branches were woven together to make the wedding canopy. [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: tree planting

Gratitude and Praise

Psalms 100 and 118 [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Blessings: Hatov V'hameitiv and Shehecheyanu

To recite when the baby is born or at the ceremony [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: shehekheyanu

Verses, Midrashim, and Acrostics

Three categories of verses commonly recited at a naming ceremony [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: naming

Blessing: Gomel

Recited by the mother for the safe childbirth [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: gomel

The Parents' Blessing

The traditional priestly blessing for a congregation, directed to the newborn [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals, Friday Evening

Tags: priestly blessing

Blessings by Siblings or Grandparents

Optional blessings to be recited by each or all [more]

Found In: Covenant & Naming Rituals

Tags: grandparents