As part of its series The Orthodox Jewish Woman and Ritual: Options and Opportunities, JOFA has created a comprehensive booklet on Birth, edited by Jennifer Breger and Lisa Schlaff. It can be accessed at http://www.jofa. org/pdf/opt_Birth.pdf. A number of topics not covered in this issue of the Journal are addressed there, including recitation of the gomel blessing, roles for women at a pidyon haben, and weaning ceremonies. An article on “Historical Precedents of Welcoming Ceremonies for Girls” by Jennifer Breger provides a historical perspective on today’s rituals.
If you are looking for new liturgies or scholarly materials, check out the Eleanor Leff Jewish Women’s Resource Center, which is a part of the New York section of the National Council of Jewish Women. In the Jewish Women’s Resource Center library, one can browse through some 15,000 items including books, unpublished theses, and new rituals, including many birth rituals for girls. The library is open to the public by appointment
Online resources for ritual materials can be found at the Israel-based site Itim: the Jewish Life Information Center, at http://www.itim.org.il/eng/?CategoryID=203, and Ritualwell, which provides rituals for Jewish holidays and lifecycles, at http://www.ritualwell.org.
Blessing the Birth of a Daughter, a printed collection of “Jewish Naming Ceremonies for Girls,” was created several decades ago by Ezrat Nashim and was edited by Toby Fishbein Reifman (see photo, p. 2).