#5983 - Bless Even More the Baby Girl!!!

To your question we must add that with the blessing of a baby daughter comes a realization of the fullness of life. The song says: "thank heaven for little girls." The Jewish people have always thanked heaven for Jewish women, mainly because our survival as a nation has been primarily because of our Jewish women.

Historically, our biblical matriarchs guided the Jewish people through nation-building and familial challenges.

During the slavery in Egypt, the women kept their faith and continued having children, despite the bleak outlook for redemption.

During the years of wandering in the desert, the women refused to participate in the colossal sins Golden Calf and the sin of the spies.

The heroine of Purim was Esther, and the heroine of Chanukah was Yehudit.

At every crucial juncture in Jewish history, women have come to the forefront, steering the Jewish people in the right direction.

Beyond this, Musar and ethical Sefarim stress that Jewishness is passed on via the mother. If the mother is Jewish, the child is 100 percent Jewish. Jewish identity passed through the mother has been universally accepted by Jews for 3,000 years, and was decided by Hashem, as recorded in Deut. 7:3-4.

The Talmud (Kiddushin 68b) explains how this law is evident from those passages.

From the fact that Jewishness goes by the mother, we see that the woman is entrusted with the awesome duty of instilling faith in Hashem, observance of mitzvot, and enjoying Jewish pride. Metaphorically, the mother gives the baby food and love that brings out its internal potential.

Celebrating the birth of a Jewish daughter is therefore a celebration of our Jewish survival, of Jewish values, and of Jewish destiny. So at least we must consider the voluntary bracha of “Shecheheyanu”

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a