A Jewish Ceremony for Newborn Girls: The Torah’s Covenant Affirmed

6 | A Central Covenantal Ritual for Girls

u 6 A Central Covenantal Ritual for Girls We saw in the previous two chapters that covenantal entry is a key life-­cycle milestone for girls. As such, it demands a central covenantal ritual that signifies the moment at which a girl is initiated into the covenant of God and Israel. While many meaningful covenantal rituals have been proposed in the past few decades, we focus here on the ritual of swaddling a baby girl in a tallit (a four-­cornered prayer shawl). The tallit has been in use as a garment since at least Mishnaic times (circa first century bce–second century ce; M. Shabbat 23:1). Today, a standard tallit is made of wool or silk and is white or off-­ white with black or blue stripes, although some modern styles incorporate a variety of colors and patterns . The most important features of a tallit are the tzitzit, eight strands of woolen string topped with five knots, which the Torah mandates for each corner of four-­cornered garments. The Torah requires a blue coloring (teche­ let) for one strand on each corner. The tzitzit remind its wearer to observe the commandments and to remember that God redeemed us from Egypt (Numbers 15:37–41). Swaddling a newborn girl in a tallit as an expression of covenantal entry and communal welcome originated in the 1970s, in some of the earliest Simchat Bat ceremonies. Vanessa Ochs documents such a ceremony performed in the mid-­1970s in a New York suburb,1 and there is at least one more from that era,2 as well as others in the decades that followed. The tallit swaddling ritual is also suggested as an option in published guidance materials and in a Rabbi’s Guide.3 In short, the tallit swaddling ritual has been quietly percolating since the 1970s. In our formulation of this ritual, a tallit is spread out on the lap of a grandparent or other close relative. The baby is then placed on this tallit. Alternatively, the grandparent or relative places the baby on a tallit spread out on a table. In either case, the parents take the corners of the tallit and a central covenantal ritual for girls 151 wrap the baby in the tallit, covering her body snugly and completely, as with a swaddling blanket. They then hold up the swaddled baby to those in attendance (whether at home or in the synagogue). As we will explore, this swaddling ritual symbolizes a baby girl’s entry into the covenant between God and the Jewish people. I was recently speaking with Dafna, my seven-­ year-­ old daughter, about a Jewish ritual that she was learning about in summer camp. With profundity far beyond her years, Dafna commented that “sometimes a new practice is a continuation of an old practice.” But how can a ritual be innovative and, at the same time, perpetuate tradition? Dafna’s answer means that sometimes a long-­standing practice can be “reborn” as something new. A new ritual can draw so heavily from traditional practices that it fits right into the existing framework. As Vanessa Ochs has pointed out, a new ritual “highlight[s] the presenceoftheoldwithinthenew”tocreateacontinuous“linktothepast.”4 Dafna’s explanation is exactly how innovators in the 1970s and 1980s conceptualized new welcoming rituals for newborn girls, including that of swaddling a baby girl in a tallit. We will learn in this chapter about the traditional texts, practices, and imagery that underpin the tallit swaddling ritual and that make it feel natural, fluid, and almost instinctual. We will see how this ritual fits comfortably in the context of contemporary Jewish life-­ cycle events and how it has the potential to revitalize traditional life-­ cycle customs that have lapsed. Although the tallit swaddling ritual has not previously been associated with newborn girls, it is not foreign. Rather, this ritual is born out of our tradition. MyhusbandandIutilizedthetallitswaddlingritualatthefirstceremony we held, for Dafna. I read about this ritual when I was pregnant with Dafna, and we used it simply because it resonated with both of us at that time. Since then, I have given much thought to this ritual and now understand better why it resonated so deeply. In this chapter, we will articulate these reasons, but with the recognition that they almost need no articulation since they are already found within the Jewish tradition and spirit. an active ritual The premise underlying the tallit swaddling practice is the idea that an active , religiously evocative ritual most effectively expresses...