Simchat Bat Ceremony
The best thing about having a “simchat bat” is there is no proscribed ceremony. You can choose what works for you and your family. Here are a few ideas for your Simchat Bat:
- You can celebrate an intimate Simchat Bat for your close friends and family over a shabbat meal on the Sabbath in which the baby has been named.
- Or you can invite many of your family, friends and wider community for a large You may want to give a short dvar torah or speech. (Or ask a guest to do so)
- You can include the traditional blessing for girls that many parents give their children on a Friday night, the mother’s prayer for deliverance (birkat hagomel), the priestly blessing, a baby naming ceremony, Torah verses connected to the baby girl’s name, or an inspiring biblical woman, or your thoughts on life, birth and renewal.
- You can prepare a program with a guide for your guests. This can be a very nice memory of the occasion for you and your guests as well as a special souvenir for your daughter (when she is old enough to appreciate it). The program can include information about the concept of the Simchat Bat, or the significance of the birth of a Jewish girl, photocopied pictures of the people for whom your daughter is being named and a family tree showing your daughter’s roots. On the cover, include your daughter’s name (if you’re comfortable revealing it before the ceremony–some people follow the tradition of not “pre-releasing” this information), the date, and the city.
- You may want to give a short dvar torah or speech. (Or ask a guest to do so). What you may want to include is the meaning of the Simchat Bat to you and your spouse, the significance of this girl’s arrival in your particular family, or her role as another link in the chain of Jewish history and peoplehood. You may want to tie this to the parshat hashavua or some other form of Jewish literature.
- If you wish to revive an early tradition that is documented in the Talmud, you can plant a tree during the ceremony for your daughter. Bring a sapling and at the time of the planting read aloud the Talmudic source. According to traditional sources, families would plant a tree in honor of the birth of a child. For a boy – they would plant a cedar sapling, and for a girl – a pine, cypress, or acacia tree. (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Gittin 57a).
- Some families invite the extended family to come under a giant talit and be part of the blessing to the baby.
- You can decorate the house/hall. You can use flowers, balloons, pictures, or you can choose a color scheme or a theme.
- It’s great to involve your new daughter’s siblings and cousins in that part of the planning; get them to paint or draw signs of welcome that you can hang up
- You can encourage older siblings to participate in the ceremony, or help younger children make a gift for their new sister.
- If the baby is born around a festival, or the Simchat Bat is celebrated around the time of a festival you can connect the theme of the festival to the ceremony.