Welcoming girls

Similarly, the Jewish people have taken the Torah's silence regarding welcoming newborn daughters as an invitation to creativity. Over the centuries, around the world, communities have invented ways to express private and communal joy over the birth of a baby girl.

Not surprisingly, this creativity has accelerated in recent decades, with the creation of new rituals, known variously as brit bat or shalom bat, to recognize and celebrate an infant girl's place in the Jewish people.

Many couples have written their own ceremonies, drawing from traditional (and sometimes modern) poems, verses, prayers and songs. The Conservative movement has published versions in which parents may place the baby’s hands on a Torah scroll, light her face in the glow of a candle, or wrap the newborn in a tallit, a prayer shawl.

Traditional rituals

The most common traditional ritual is a naming ceremony which takes place in the synagogue, at a Shabbat service after the birth, with both parents attending. In many communities, the mother recites a blessing of gratitude for her health and well-being after childbirth; and the father is called to the Torah.

But elsewhere, the ceremonies are more elaborate.

In the Sephardi communities of Turkey and the Balkans, infants are clothed in elaborate dress and jewelry. The ceremony has no fixed date, but is usually held sometime between seven and thirty days after birth, and is conducted by a rabbi, usually at home but sometimes in the synagogue.