Simchat Bat

It’s a girl! When do you name her? When should you throw the party? After eight days, two weeks, a month?

As opposed to a brit, circumcision of a boy on the eighth day, there are no set, traditional rituals for a girl. In the late 20th century we began creating rituals – some that paralleled the language of a bris, some that were completely original. So we are now in the process of creating tradition for a simchat bat, celebration of a birth of a daughter.

Here at Ohavi Zedek we celebrate the simchat bat either at the synagogue during the Torah service on Shabbat morning or afternoon, or in the home, usually on a Sunday morning.

It is customary to serve refreshments or a meal after the simchat bat, and this is considered a seudat mitzvah, part of the mitzvah. Ideally, a minyan should be present for the simchat bat, althought this is not a pre-requisite.

Whichever form of celebration is followed, Jewish families are increasingly finding formal ways of expressing joy on the birth of a girl as well as the birth of a boy.