Blessing One's Children
From Kolot
"The Book of Blessings," published by Marcia Falk in 1996, has become a cherished treasure of modern liturgy. In her commentary on Blessing the Children she writes: "The custom of blessing one’s children on the eve of the Sabbath and holidays is an especially poignant Jewish ritual, but the content of the traditional blessing is rather puzzling. …[I]t asks God to make the male child like Ephraim and Menasheh; an adaptation for girls asks that they be like the foremothers Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. Why Ephraim and Menashe, one cannot help but wonder – indeed any particular ancestors at all? In its specificity, this blessing seems restrictive rather than expansive; it doesn’t open out to the range of possibility and promise that ought to characterize youth."
She offers these alternative blessings.
To a girl:
_______________ (the child’s name),
Hayi asher tihyi –
vahayi beruhah
ba’asher tihyi.Be who you are –
and may you be blessed
in all that you are.
To a boy:
________________ (the child’s name),
Heyeyh asher tihyeh –
veheyeyh baruh
ba’asher tihyeh.Be who you are –
and may you be blessed
in all that you are.
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