March 19, 2024 |

Bris & Baby Naming

We love new babies!  Rav Hazzan Richmond and Rabbi Weiss are delighted to welcome new babies, at the temple and/or in your homes.  We are happy to co-officiate with a mohel/mohelet at a bris (brit mila, ritual circumcision), and we are happy to work with you to craft a baby naming ceremony.

Ritual circumcisions are traditionally performed on the 8th day of life. If the baby is born on a Tuesday during the day, the bris would be the following Tuesday.  If the baby is born on a Tuesday night after sunset, the bris would be the following Wednesday.  We are blessed to have one of our congregants, Dr. Jennifer Novick, a board certified pediatrician, as a certified mohelet in our area!  We can also provide a list of other mohelim in the area.

Increasingly over the last generation or two, baby namings have given families a way to give baby girls an equally enthusiastic welcome to the community.  Baby namings can be done at 8 days, 15 days, around a month, and really any time during the first year or even beyond.  Many families welcome the baby at temple on a Saturday morning, many do so at home on a Sunday, and some do both!  Rav Hazzan Richmond & Rabbi Weiss can share copies of baby-naming ceremonies that we’ve officiated at, and you can see more at Ritual Well.  Here are some parents’ prayers that you could read or that may inspire you to write your own.  Here is a link to a recording of this blessing from a brit ceremony.