Friday, January 25, 2008

Simchat bat

While brit milah is performed for newborn boys, there is no corresponding formal birth ceremony for baby girls. Traditionally, newborn girls have been given their Jewish names in a simple naming ceremony in the synagogue. To many people, the disparity between the elaborate birth rite for boys and the brief naming rite for girls seems unequal in this day and age, to say the least.
In response, many new birth ceremonies for infant girls have been introduced in recent years. Because it is not yet part of the liturgy, there are no standard, agreed upon elements for the ceremony. Indeed, even the name of the ceremony is undecided—simchat bat ("the rejoicing of the daughter"), brit habat ("covenant of the daughter") and brit kedusha ("the covenant of holiness") are all routinely used.
Simchat bat is often celebrated on the eighth day of life, as for a brit. However, many parents choose to wait several weeks to a month after birth before performing the ceremony.

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