Bris & Baby Naming
If you have recently received a new child into your life—Mazal Tov!
The Jewish ceremonies surrounding the naming of a child (whether a newborn or newly-adopted) are the first set of rituals in the Jewish “Life-Cycle”. These ceremonies are highly personal, and vary widely based on family traditions and personal desires, so the best thing is for us to chat directly.
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Or better yet, call me (831) 594-YITZ(9489)
Anita Diamant’s “The New Jewish Baby Book” is the best resource out there for planning your ceremony for your child.
Here are a few basic things to note:
(click here for a list of additional resources)
· “Bris” literally means covenant. “Brit Milah” is the actual ceremony of circumcision.
· “The Bris” is traditionally done on the 8th day (count the day of birth as day 1, and remember that the Jewish date changes at sundown). If you would do a bris for a son on the 8th day, then (being the committed egalitarian that I am) I strongly encourage parents to make the same choice for a daughter.
· A Bris actually consists of 2 ceremonies:
(a) The circumcision itself, performed by a moyel or a doctor (there are strong advantages and disadvantages of each which we can discuss when we talk)
(b) The ceremony, including the naming. Many moyels will do a basic ceremony for you as well, and some even do a very nice job. I, of course, advise that you should have a Rabbi do the ceremony.
· Technically, the Baby Naming can be performed together with or separately from the bris (this happens often if the circumcision is done in the hospital and then the naming is done in the synagogue or at home).
· The giving of the Hebrew name is considered “the invitation” from the parents to the child to be part of the Jewish people. The child then “answers” this invitation by accepting the blessings of Torah at the Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah and taking the obligations of Judaism upon themselves.
· There are numerous wonderful rituals that have been created for girls to “substitute” for the circumcision portion of the ceremony. The naming ceremony, then, would be essentially identical for both boys and girls.
Anita Diamant’s book (mentioned above) has several nice ceremonies. If you would like a resource with more detail, I recommend Debra Nussbaum Cohen and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s “Celebrating your New Jewish Daughter”
I look forward to speaking with you about how I can be of service to you for this wonderful part of life.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Yitzi
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or call me at (831) 594-YITZ(9489)
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Additional Resources:
A good resource for a thorough but easily-accessible description the Jewish Baby Rituals is:
Anita Diamant’s “The New Jewish Baby Book”
A good online resource is MyJewishLearning.com
The best resource I know of for picking names
(particularly helpful because you can look up names alphabetically, or there is a wonderful appendix that lists “meanings” alphabetically and then gives Hebrew names that correspond to that meaning)
Alfred Kolatch’s “Complete Dictionary of Hebrew and English First Names”
A good resource for even more detail than Anita Diamant’s book provides about baby naming ceremonies for girls is:
Debra Nussbaum Cohen & Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s
“Celebrating your New Jewish Daughter”
