Welcome To The World Party!!

So...we threw a party to welcome you into the world and the lives and hearts of all of the people who haven't gotten a chance to meet you yet.  You also needed your Hebrew name...so we welcomed each of your senses through prayer and ritual to awaken your senses and encourage you to experience life with your whole being.  You and I walked into the room while being sung to, and then we started with your sense of taste.  

 Grandparents: Take your first sip of wine, Kai, and taste the drink that is the holy link between people and God, used to sanctify all Jewish celebrations.
Blessing over the wine

You liked the wine (which was grape juice) and seemed to really like drinking from a cup too!

 Next to welcome was your sense of smell.  The fragrance of a range of scents arouses our most astute sense, hinting at all that is savory and all that is sweet in the world.  I tried to bring honeysuckle for you to smell, but it's out of season...so, you got to smell cucumbers and Fritos.  Fritos smell like puppy feet, and cucumbers are so fresh and crisp...you actually seemed to really like both of them too - though, to be honest, it's possible that you liked the bag to the Fritos more than the smell...


Blessing over the scents:  (it's not easy to find hebrew that is blog ready...wow.)

ברוך אתה אדוני אלוהינו מלך העול

בורא מיני בשמים        

Next we welcomed sight, people told you the things that they wanted you to see, some drew pictures...the kids had LOTS to show you...

Blessed are you our God, powerful mystery, who has created a wonderful diversity of sights to behold.

Barukh atath Adonai eloheynu melekh ha’olam, meshaneh habriyot.

And then there was hearing...: Let your life be filled with music, to please and inspire you, to connect you with others, and to permeate you with a love of life.
Everyone sang you “Sweet Baby James” quite impressively on key and together... and you loved it like you always love that song.  


We followed up the fourth sense with some silent time to hope that Kai can hear all that is beneath the sounds of the world...the unacknowledged sense - which this room also seemed to understand - everyone was perfectly silent including the babies... amazing...






Next we did a ritual washing of your feet for your sense of touch.  I kinda wish I had had Rabbi Linda write this for me, cause she's eloquent and precise.  But...since I didn't...Some parents use footwashing as a concrete symbol of the covenant, likening the ritual to the covenant of the rainbow which God made with Noah after the flood. Others use it as a symbol of welcome.
When the angels visited Abraham and announced the birth of his son Isaac, Abraham greeted them by washing their feet, symbolic of their status as honored guests.  Walking through the desert would certainly be hard on the feet, washing visitor's feet would show respect and care for the people who came to visit, and so symbolically Punkin and I washed your road-worn (heh...) feet.

Barukh atah Adonai eloheynu melekh ha’olam zocher ha’brit b’rechitzat raglayim.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, powerful mystery of the universe, Who is mindful of the covenant through the washing of the feet. 

 And here you got your Hebrew name: 

 חַיִּים  פִּינְחָס ‎‎ 

Chayyim for life - yours and the energies and feelings that fill it... Pinchus after Paula's grandfather who was a gentle, artistic, kind man who helped to create and nurture Paula's favorite parts of herself.  I love your names.  Hebrew and English... They're strong and melodic...rich with meaning...and numerologically lucky :)

And here is everyone welcoming you!!