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Zeved habat


Zeved habat (Hebrew: זֶבֶד הַבָּת‎‎), mostly known as Brita (Hebrew: בריתה), and often as Simchat bat (Hebrew: שמחת בת) is a Jewish naming ceremony for newborn girls.

In the Ashkenazi community, namegiving ceremonies for newborn girls were not widespread and often limited to the father announcing the baby's name in the synagogue on the Shabbat, Monday, Thursday or other occasion when the Torah would be read following the birth. Sometimes a kiddush will be held at the synagogue for family and friends. Although ceremonies can be found in Ashkenazic sources. Rabbi Yacov Emden includes a text in his famous prayer book. In the 20th century, interest in traditional ceremonies for welcoming baby girls has been revived, and new ceremonies have evolved. These ceremonies are often known under the newly coined terms Simchat Bat or a Brit Bat. There is no explicit source in the Mishnah or Talmud specifying when girls should be named.

In medieval times, girls were named during Shavua Habat (lit. "week of the daughter"). In early German Jewish communities, a baby naming ceremony was developed for both girls and boys called a Hollekreisch, which literally translated to mean the giving of the secular name. The ritual took place after Shabbat lunch. The babies were dressed up, and boys were draped in a tallit. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) was placed in the crib. The crib would then be lifted up and the following recited in German: Hollekreisch! How shall the baby be called? So-and-so So-and-so So-and-so (i.e. his or her name three times). Nuts, sweets and fruits were then distributed to the guests. The custom applied to both boys (who had already received their Hebrew names at their brit mila) and girls. This ceremony was widely observed in Jewish circles in Germany as early as the 14th century. In the 17th century this custom was observed in naming boys and girls only in South Germany, while in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Poland it was not used for boys, and only rarely for girls.


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