As the Jewish world evolves, we will continue to create meaningful ways to welcome and honor women and girls within our tradition. Almost one hundred years ago, a Bat Mitzvah was unheard of. Today, a Simchat Bat (a baby naming ritual for a Jewish girl) is becoming more and more commonplace. When we share our stories about the way our ritual needs meet traditional practice, our imaginations grow and Jewish life flourishes. This post from 2013 illustrates one mother’s thought process as she considered a ritual to welcome her newborn girl. We hope you enjoy this post as much as we do.
Entering the Covenant of her Mothers
by Terri Ash
In one of his seminal works, The Lonely Man of Faith, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soleveitchik speaks of a Covenantal Man. This is the Adam of the second creation story in Genesis. As a Jew, that phrasing has always struck me. We are are a people of a covenant. When our boys are born, we welcome them into that covenant with a Brit Milah, or covenantal circumcision. But what of our daughters?