ENKIN-LEWIS BRISITSE
Covenant and Naming Celebration
On our baby "Sunny"'s seven-week birthday
Sunday, November 11 2001 * 26 Cheshvan 5762
seven times seven days after she was born
on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Jewish
year,
7 Tishrei 5762 * September 23 2001
Celebrating Birth
Simchat Leida
A shofar is sounded.
An honoured guest brings the baby to her place of honour,
surrounded by symbols of the Covenant and her heritage.
Everyone (in Hebrew, then English):
Brucha haba-a!
Blessed is she who has come!
Jane and Justin:
Well before our baby was born, her big brother Shlomo
Jack gave her the nickname "Sunny", and she gives us warmth and light like
the sun.
She was born at night, when the moon was shining, and
we first planned her celebration for her month-birthday, her first moon-cycle.
She was born on the evening of September 23; in the Jewish
calendar it was the 7th of Tishrei, the seventh day of the seventh month.
When we had to reschedule her celebration, we planned it for today, her seventh
week-birthday, seven times seven days after she was born.
As the Torah tells us:
Us'phartem lachem... sheva shabatot
t'mimot tih'yena...
v'hikravtem mincha chadasha l'Adonai.
"You shall count for yourselves...
seven Sabbaths, seven complete weeks...
and then you shall bring a new offering
to God" {Leviticus 23:16}.
We are beginning Sunny's ceremony now, after sundown,
as it gets dark, because she was born early in the night.
The sun, the moon and cycles of seven days are all important
symbols, they are all connected with our baby, and they'll all be part of
her ceremony.
Everyone sings:
Circle of the Sun
Babies are born in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their birthing day
Babies are born in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their birthing day
Clouds to the north, clouds to the south,
wind and rain to the east and west
Babies are born in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their birthing day
Babies take their first step in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their walking day
Babies take their first step in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their walking day
Clouds to the north, clouds to the south,
wind and rain to the east and west
Babies take their first step in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their birthing day
Babies say their first word in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their talking day...
Babies get married in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on their wedding day...
I hope to die in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on my dying day...
I hope to be born in a circle of the sun
Circle of the sun on my birthing day...
Jane and Justin:
We bless our daughter in words that
we speak to the waxing moon month by month:
Baruch yotsreich, baruch oseich, baruch
koneich, baruch bor-eich!
Blessed is your shaper, blessed is
your maker,
blessed is your creator, blessed is
your deviser!
V'haya or hal'vana k'or ha-chama
v'or ha-chama yih'yeh shiv-atayim
k'or shiv-at hayamim.
The light of the moon will be like
the light of the sun
and the light of the sun will be sevenfold,
like the light of the Seven Days.
{Isaiah 30:26}
Vata'di zahav vachesef
umalbushech shesh vameshi v'rikma
solet udvash vashemen achalt
vatifi bim'od m'od
vatitsl'chi limlucha
And you will be bedecked with gold
and silver.
Your clothes will be fine linen, silk
and embroidered cloth.
You will eat fine flour, and honey,
and oil,
and be very very beautiful
and you will rise to royalty.
{Ezekiel 16:13}
Jane, Justin and Shlomo Jack recite the blessing for good news for oneself
and others, such as a birth in the family:
Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
ha-tov v'ha-meitiv
Blessed are You, our Ever-Present God, Sovereign of the
Universe
who is good and does good!
Everyone answers:
Amein/Amen!
Blessing for the midwives
HaSh’china she-bircha m’yaledet Perets av ha-mashiach,
um’yaldot ha-ivriyot Pu’a v’Shifra,
vatitein lahen chochmat lev v’yadayim --
Hi t’varech et m’yaldoteinu ha-chashuvot, Susan, Jane, v’Fariba,
she-al y’deihen nolda biteinu ha-y’kara b’toch beita,
b’vri’ut b’simcha uv’mazal tov.
Timalei mish’a lot libeihen l’tova
v’tishlach bracha v’hatslacha b’chol ma’asei y’deihen
ka-katuv: Vayeitev Elohim lam’yaldot,
v’nomar Amein.
May our motherly God
who blessed the midwife of Peretz the ancestor of the Messiah
and the midwives of the Hebrews in Egypt, Puah and Shifrah,
and gave them wisdom of heart and hands,
bless our honoured midwives, Susan, Jane and Fariba,
by whose hands our dear daughter was born
in her own home,
in health and joy at an auspicious time.
May She fulfill the wishes of their hearts for good,
and send blessings and success to all the work of their hands,
as it is written: "God was good to the midwives”,
and let us say:
Amen.
Blessing for the big brother
Misheberach Aharon, ach ha-gadol shel Miryam,
vayitein achva v’ahava beino uveina,
kakatuv: Hinei ma tov u-ma na’im shevet achim gam yachad,
kashemen ha-tov al ha-rosh, yoreid al ha-zakan, z’kan Aharon –
Hu y’varech et ha-ach ha-gadol he-chadash, Shlomo Jack,
asher azar b’leidat achoto, asher hu tov la,
vigadeil oto b’bri’ut b’chochma uv’shalom
v’yishlach bracha b’chol ma’asei yadav,
vimalei mish’a lot libo l’tova,
v’nomar Amein.
May the one who blessed Aaron, Miriam's big brother,
and made family closeness and love between them, as it is written:
"Behold how good and how pleasant for siblings to dwell together,
pleasant as good oil on the head, flowing over the beard, Aaron's beard"
--
bless the new big brother, Shlomo Jack,
who helped with the birth of his sister, and is good to her.
May he grow up in health, in wisdom and in peace.
Send blessing on all the works of his hands
and fulfill the wishes of his heart for good, and let us say:
Amen.
Blessing for the father
Misheberach avoteinu Avraham Yits’chak v’Ya’akov, v’imoteinu Sura Rivka Racheil
Lei’a Bilha v’Zilpa, hu y’varech et ha-av Ya’akov ben Avraham v’Sarah v’et
bito ha-nolda b’mazal tov, v’yizkeh l’godla l’Tora ul’chupa ul’ma’asim tovim,
v’nomar Amein.
May the one who blessed our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and our mothers
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Bilha and Zilpa, bless the father, JUSTIN son
of JACK of blessed memory and GERTRUD, and his daughter, born at an auspicious
time; and may he merit to raise her to Torah, to the wedding canopy, and
to a life of good deeds, and let us say: Amen.
Blessing for the mother
Misheberach imoteinu Sura Rivka Racheil Lei’a Bilha v’Zilpa va’avoteinu Avraham
Yits’chak v’Ya’akov, hu y’varech et ha-isha ha-yoledet Yona Braina bat Chaya
Lei’a v’Mei’ir Volf haLevi, v’et bita ha-nolda la b’mazal tov, v’tizkeh l’godla
l’Torah ul’chupa ul’ma’asim tovim. V’nomar Amein.
May the one who blessed our mothers Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Bilha and
Zilpa, and our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless the new mother, JANE
daughter of ELEANOR and MURRAY, and her daughter, born to her at an auspicious
time; and may she merit to raise her to Torah, to the wedding canopy, and
to a life of good deeds, and let us say:
Amen.
Blessing on surviving the danger of childbirth
Jane recites:
Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
hagomel lachayavim tovot, she-g'malani kol tov
Blessed is the one who nurtures the undeserving with goodness,
who has given me everything good.
Everyone responds (in Hebrew, then English):
Amein!
Mi-sheg'maleich kol tov,
hu yigmaleich kol tov sela.
May the One who has given you everything good
nurture you with all goodness, forever!
Song for the baby
Everyone sings:
To you we sing
And happiness we bring
To celebrate your birth
An angel here on earth
* * * * * * *
Brit
Covenant
Jane and Justin recite:
Ko amar Adonai:
Im lo briti,
yomam valaila, chukot shamayim va-arets, lo samti
Thus says the Ever-Present:
If not for my covenant,
I would not have put in place day and night
or the rhythms of the sky and the earth. {Jeremiah 33:25}
Hinenu muchanim um'zumanim l'kayeim mitsvat asei shetsivatnu haSh'china l'hikaneis
et biteinu babrit
Behold, we are ready and prepared to fulfill the divine commandment
to bring our daughter into the Covenant.
Ka-katuv:
V'hakimoti et briti beini u-veinecha
u-vein zar-acha acharecha l'dorotam, livrit olam
lih'yot l'cha leilohim ul'zar-acha acharecha
As it is written {Genesis 17:7}
I will establish my covenant between Me and you
and your descendants after you for all their generations,
an eternal covenant,
to be your God and your descendants' after you.
V'ne-emar:
Ki he-harim yamushu v'hag'va-ot t'mutena
v'chasdi mei-itach lo yamush
uvrit sh'lomi lo tamut
amar m'rachameich Adonai
And it is said {Isaiah 54:7: the "you" is feminine}:
Though the mountains may move and the hills be shaken
my loyalty shall never move from you
and my covenant of peace shall not be shaken
says the Ever-Present, who has motherly compassion for you.
V'ne-emar:
Va-eshava lach va-avo vivrit otach, n'um Adonai Elohim,
vatih'yi li, va-erchatseich bamayim
And it is said {Ezekiel 17:8-9; the "you" is feminine}:
I took an oath to you and I entered into a covenant with you,
declares the Ever-Present Sovereign,
and you became mine, and I washed you with water.
V'chatuv:
B'vo-am el ohel mo-eid yirchatsu mayim v'lo yamutu,
o v'gishtam el hamizbeiach l'shareit l'haktir isheh ladonai,
v'rachatsu y'deihem v'ragleihem.
And it is written {Exodus 30:20-21}:
As they enter into the sanctuary tent,
they shall wash with water, and they shall not die;
or when they approach to serve at the altar,
to burn an offering as fire for the Ever-Present:
they shall wash their hands and their feet.
* * *
As we bring her into the Covenant,
the baby's hands are washed with the handwashing vessel
which Jane's Buby Sura Etl brought from the land of Israel,
and her feet are immersed in the "well of Miriam" which
is a gift from our friend Alan Baker of blessed memory.
* * *
Everyone sings:
Ush'avtem mayim b'sason
mimaaynei hay'shu-a...
Mayim mayim mayim mayim
hey mayim b'sason...
(You shall draw water with joy from
the springs of deliverance.
{Isaiah 12:3})
Everyone (in Hebrew, then in English):
V'ruach Elohim m'rachefet al p'nei hamayim.
The spirit of God hovers over the face of the water.
{Genesis 1:2}
Kol Adonai al hamayim.
The voice of the Ever-Present is upon the water.
{Psalm 29:3}
Mayan ganim b'er mayim chayim.
You are a spring among the gardens, a well of living water.
{Song of Songs
4:15}
Ki mal'a ha-arets dei-a et Adonai kamayim layam m'chasim.
For the earth shall be filled with knowing the Ever-Present
as the sea is filled with water.
{Isaiah 11:9}
A piece of the cloth from which her parents' wedding canopy was made is held
over the baby. Shlomo Jack holds a model Torah and a tzedakah (charity)
box, a reminder of good deeds.
Everyone (in Hebrew, then English):
K'sheim shenichn'sa labrit
kein t'kaneis l'Torah, l'chupa ul'maasim tovim.
As she has entered the Covenant,
may she enter the Torah, the wedding canopy,
and a life of good deeds.
MAZAL TOV!
Everyone sings:
Siman tov umazal tov umazal tov usiman tov...
y'hei lanu
y'hei lanu y'hei lanu ul'chol Yisra-el...
* * * * * * *
Kri’at Shem
Naming the Baby
The baby's grandmothers, Buby Eleanor and Omi Gertrud,
sit with her.
Jane and Justin:
Mi zot hanishkafa k'mo sháchar,
yafa chal'vana, bara kachama?
Who is this that shines forth like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, radiant as the sun? {Song of Songs 6:10}
Naming Blessing
Mi sheberach Sura Rivka Rachel v'Lei-a, Mir'yam han'vi-a, v'Avigayil,
v'Ester hamalka bat Avichayil,
hu y'varech et hayalda hazot han'ima
v'yikarei sh'ma Sura Chana Shalom bat Yona Braina v'Yaakov
b'mazal tov uvish'at bracha
vigadleha bivri-ut shalom um'nucha
vizakeh et aviha v'et ima
lir-ot b'simchata uv'chupata,
eim habanim s'meicha
b'osher v'chavod ad eit ziknata
Kein y'hi ratson milfanecha, v'nomar:
Amein!
May the one who blessed Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah,
Miriam the prophet, Avigail, and Queen Esther,
bless this darling child.
May her name be called:
in English: SURA ANNA SHALOM
and in Yiddish:
Sure Khane Shulem
daughter of Jane and Justin,
and may God bless her to grow up in health, peace and contentment,
and grant to her father and mother
to see her enjoying life, to attend her wedding,
to see her a happy mother of children, rich and honoured to a ripe old age.
May this be Your will, and let us say:
Amen.
Blessing song from Sura Anna's Omi
Lewis family sings:
Wir kommen all und wünschen Glück und Freud
Unsrer lieben Sura Anna zum Geburtstag heut
(We all are coming to wish happiness
and joy
to our dear Sura Anna on her [seven-week]
birthday today)
Sura Anna Shalom is named for her maternal great-grandmothers, Anna Jaron
and Ethel Wolfe. (Ethel's Yiddish name was Sura Etl; everyone called
her Etl, but her husband preferred the Biblical name Sura.) She is
also named for the Biblical matriarchs Sarah and Hannah, whose stories are
told at Rosh Hashanah, the season of her birth; and for Shalom, peace, which
we wish for her and hope she will help bring to the world.
Stories and a song of Sura Anna's name
Stories of Buby Sura Etl * Stories of Omi Anna
Everyone sings a song of Shalom, peace:
Shalom, shalom...
* * * * * * *
Brachot l’Sure Khane Shulem
Blessings for Sura Anna Shalom
A Yiddish Blessing
Sure Khane Shulem,
a gezunt in dayn kepele, gebentsht zolstu zayn --
zolst hobn Ester-Hamalkes kheyn,
zolst hobn Shloyme-Hameylekhs khokhme un Koyrekhs oytser.
Vu du vest zayn, un tsu vos du vest zikh kern,
zol dir Got gebn a revekh mit a kern.
OMEYN!
(Sura Anna Shalom, a health in your
little head, blessed may you be! May you have the grace of Queen Esther,
the wisdom of King Solomon and the wealth of Korach. Wherever you go, whatever
you do, may God give you spending money and savings too. Amen!)
Sure Khane Shulem,
Eil Shadai y'var'cheich
birchot shamayim mei-al, birchot t'hom rovetset tachat
birchot shadayim varácham,
umimeged t'vu-ot shámesh umimeged geresh y'rachim,
umeirosh har'rei kedem umimeged giv-ot olam,
umimeged erets umlo-a,
v'nomar:
Amein
Sura Anna Shalom,
May the Nurturing One bless you:
blessings of the sky above and blessings of the deep below,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb,
and of the precious fruits of the sun and the precious crops of the moons,
from the peaks of the ancient mountains and the treasures of the primeval
hills,
from the treasures of earth and her fullness,
and let us say:
Amen.
Closing Song
Everyone sings a song that Buby Sura Etl sang to her grandchildren:
Going home, going home, I am going home...
Going home, going home, I am going home...
The ceremony ends here.
Those who wish to stay are invited to join us in singing for Sura Anna Shalom.
* * * * * * *
Songs for Sura Anna Shalom
A song Omi Anna loved
Was frag' ich viel nach Geld und Gut
wenn ich zufrieden bin!
Gibt Gott mir nur gesundes Blut,
so hab' ich frohen Sinn,
und sing' aus dankbarem Gemüt
mein Morgen- und mein Abendlied.
Und wenn die goldne Sonn' aufgeht
und golden wird die Welt,
wenn alles in der Blüte steht
und Ähren trägt das Feld,
dann denk' ich: Alle diese Pracht
hat Gott zu meiner Lust gemacht!
(Why would I ask for a lot of money and property as long
as I'm content?
As long as God gives me health, I'm in a happy
mood, and sing with a
thankful heart my morning and evening songs. And
when the golden sun
rises and the world becomes golden, when everything is
in bloom and the
field is full of wheat, I think: all of this splendour,
God made for my
pleasure!)
A song Shlomo Jack sings to his baby sister
I love my baby
and my baby loves me
boop a doop boop a doop
... boop a doop boop a doop boop boop
A song of peace that Shlomo Jack likes to sing
All we are saying
is give peace a chance...
A song Buby Sura Etl loved
Sheyn bin ikh, sheyn,
sheyn iz oykh mayn nomen.
Redt men mir shidukhim
mit same rabonim.
Rabonishe toyre
iz dokh zeyer groys,
Bin ikh ba mayn mamen
A likhtike royz!
(Pretty, I'm pretty, pretty is my middle name. They're making matches
for me with nobody but rabbis. Rabbis' Torah is very great, so I'm
my mama's shining rose!)
A sheyn meydele bin ikh,
bloye zekelekh trog ikh.
Gelt in di tashn,
vayn in di flashn,
med in di krigelekh,
Kinder in di vigelekh
Shrayen vi di tsigelekh
Meh, meh, meh!
(I'm a pretty girl, I wear blue stockings. Money in the purses, wine
in the bottles, mead in the jugs, children in the cradles crying like little
goats, meh, meh, meh!)
A song Buby Sura Etl sang as she braided her granddaughters'
hair
I peeked in to say goodnight
And then I heard my child in prayer:
"And for me some scarlet ribbons,
Scarlet ribbons for my hair"
All the stores were closed and shuttered
All the streets were dark and bare
In our town no scarlet ribbons
Not one ribbon for her hair
Through the night my heart was aching
Just before the dawn was breaking
I peeked in and on her bed
In gay profusion lying there
Lovely ribbons, scarlet ribbons
Scarlet ribbons for her hair
If I live to be a hundred
I will never know from where
Came those lovely scarlet ribbons
Scarlet ribbons for her hair
The first lyric written for Sura Anna (by Paulette Paulin)
(Jane's and Shlomo's versions of the lyric)
Sura lura lura
Sura lura lye
Sura lura lura
with the bright and wandering eye / with a bright and wandering eye
Sura lura lura
Sura lura lye
Sura lura lura
That's my meydl's lullaby / It's my meydl's lullaby
SOURCES
The Yiddish word "brisitse" is an affectionate feminine form of "bris" (boy's
covenant/naming celebration). Weinreich's Modern Yiddish-English Dictionary
defines it as "a regional folk celebration for the birth of a baby girl".
The original timing of the brisitse on Sura's month-birthday was in keeping
with Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions of naming a girl on the 30th day after
birth or on the first Shabbat after a month has passed.
"Blessed is she who has come" -- modified from the traditional ceremony for
a baby boy.
Introduction "Well before our baby was born..." -- original
"Circle of the Sun" -- by Sally Rogers, lyrics modified by folk process
"Blessed is your shaper..." "The light of the moon..." "And you will
be bedecked..." -- from Kiddush Levana, the monthly ritual of blessing the
waxing moon, in the Sephardi version.
"Blessed... who is good and does good" -- traditional (Talmud Brachot 59b).
In Orthodox circles today, Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz is cited as recommending
the recitation of this joyful blessing for the birth of a girl as well as
a boy.
Blessing for the midwives -- original
"the midwife of Peretz" -- see Genesis 38:27-30
"...the ancestor of the Messiah" -- see Ruth 4:18-22
"the midwives of the Hebrews in Egypt" -- see Exodus 1:15-21
"God was good to the midwives" -- Exodus 1:20
Blessing for the big brother -- original
"Behold how good..." -- Psalm 133:1-2
Blessing for the father -- traditional, modified
Blessing for the mother -- traditional, modified
Blessing for surviving the danger of childbirth -- traditional
"To You We Sing" -- learned from Barbara Stokes
Biblical verses of the covenant -- chosen by Justin and Jane, sources as
noted
"Behold, we are ready..." -- modified from the ceremony for a baby
boy
Washing hands and feet -- a contemporary covenant ritual for baby girls.
Thanks to Rabbi Jill Hammer for this and other sources.
"As she has entered..." -- modified from the ceremony for a baby boy
Mazal tov song -- traditional
"Who is this..." -- also included in a contemporary covenant ceremony for
a baby girl in the Conservative rabbis' manual
Naming blessing -- from the traditional Spanish/Portuguese Jewish "Zeved
HaBat" ceremony
"Wir kommen all..." traditional German
Thanks to Eleanor Enkin and Gertrud Jaron Lewis for stories of Buby and Omi,
and Stacey Goldman for midrashic stories of Sarah and Hannah which we will
tell at other times.
"Shalom, shalom" -- we think the tune is from Shlomo Carlebach; we learned
it from Shira Shelley Duke of blessed memory.
Yiddish Blessing -- from Eleanor's favourite baby-blessing, "a gezint in
dayn kepele", and blessings which Rachel Rosmarin heard from her mother Rebbetzin
Chaya Freida Sankevitz and recorded in Mamma Used To Say (Jerusalem:
Feldheim, 2000), p. 170-171. Thanks to Judy Satosky for this book.
"May the nurturing One..." -- after the blessings of Joseph, Gen. 49:24,
Deut. 33:14-16.
"Going home..." -- African-American folk song, included in Dvorak's New World
Symphony, as Buby Sura Etl's grandchildren remember her singing it to them.
"Was frag' ich viel..." -- text from Unser Fröhlicher Gesell (Wolfenbüttel:
Möseler Verlag, n.d.)
"I love my baby..." -- a song Eleanor sang to Jane and Jane sang to Shlomo
Jack
"Give peace a chance" -- John Lennon and Yoko Ono; Shlomo Jack learned it
from Morah Janice and Morah Tanya at the Downtown Jewish Day School.
"Sheyn bin ikh, sheyn" -- Yiddish folk song, text from Vinkovetzky, Kovner
and Leichter, Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs (Jerusalem: Magnes Press,
1989)
"Scarlet Ribbons" -- Buby Sura Etl probably learned this from the singing
of Harry Belafonte
"Sura lura lura..." modified by Paulette Paulin from a traditional Irish
tune
Thanks to our teachers Devorah Zlochower, Elisa Kukla, Elisheva Simon, Jill
Hammer, Kirsten Cowan, Reb Leah Novick, Nancy Freund, and Rivka Haut
for their covenant blessings for Sunny, on our wall.