Historically, Judaism has offered little for women suffering with the pain of infertility. Thankfully, over the last 25 years, Jewish women have transformed the canon of Jewish ritual. Jewish women have both created new rituals grounded in traditional practices and language and have unearthed prayers and rituals from our past written by and for women, responding to their lives and needs.
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Hannah's Prayer from Berakhot 31b | Prayer
By Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
A form of this touching prayer in modern English
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As at the Creation of Eve | Prayer
By Tikva Frymer-Kensky, z"l
A prayer that may be said before a medical exam for those undergoing fertility treatment/counseling
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Chayei Sarah | Article
By Shana Roskies
The author brings to life the Genesis tale of Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar by locating Sarah and Abraham's infertility as the central factor motivating the characters' behavior.
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Barren (Uri) | Poem
By Rahel Bluwstein
Contemporary Israeli prayer on desire for a child
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Kaddish for the End of Biological Fertility | Prayer
By Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael
A moving prayer in which the author, working off the traditional kaddish, mourns her inability to birth a child.
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A Longing for Children | Article
By Julie Stockler
This essay on grieving the inability to bear children relates the author's dialog with her deceased grandmother about whether she has the permission to mourn.
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Prayer before an Examination | Prayer
By Rabbi Michelle Goldsmith
This prayer aims to bring a spiritual presence to the potentially sterile and technological experience of a doctor's visit
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A Prayer for a child: to be said before entering the mikveh* | Prayer
By Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
Describes the practice of going to a mikveh (ritual bath) as it relates to the desire for conception
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Prayer for Those Having Difficulty Conceiving | Prayer
By Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
This prayer, based on the Song of Songs and Psalm 22, for those having difficulty conceiving is phrased in the plural and written in the voice of a married couple. It is easily adaptable for an infertile person to say on her or his own.
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Prayers to be Said Before a Procedure, Insemination, and After a Procedure | Prayer
By Rabbi Diane Cohen
Biblical verses used to form three prayers "to be said before a procedure", "Verses to be said upon insemination" and "Verses to be recited upon arising from a procedure."
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Round | Poem
By Rachel Boimwall
A contemporary poem on the desire to conceive
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A Tashlich Ritual for Accepting Infertility | Complete Ceremony
By Bonnie and Lawrence Baron
The couple uses the metaphor of tashlich (casting bread upon the water) as renewal to transform their suffering.
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Techina for a Woman Experiencing Infertility | Prayer
By Renee S. Septimus
A prayer, fashioned after traditional techinot, women's prayers, for a child
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The Bath | Poem
By Lynn E. Levin
A contemporary poem that addresses "the stain" of blood which, when trying to get pregnant, "becomes a sign of failure, of sadness, of emptiness, of death."
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A Prayer for the Wonder of Our Bodies | Prayer
This prayer from the morning service expresses awe at the intricate workings of the human body. It may be recited before or after an examination or a procedure.
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Liberating Reproduction from Despair: A kavanah for conception in the age of infertility | Prayer
By Allen Selis
A brief prayer before undergoing in vitro fertilization
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