R’ Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler kindly shared the Simḥat Bat ceremony they prepared for their daughter this past Monday, May 31st, at Fort Tryon Jewish Center.
This Simḥat Bat is really distinguished by Rabbi Kaunfer’s innovation in using milk in the context of a covenant ceremony. From the explanatory notes:
In place of the blood of the slaughtered bulls from the covenantal ceremony in Exodus, we looked for another substance to effect the covenant ceremony. Amalya was born right after Shavuot, on which we have a tradition to eat dairy. In fact, milk itself is associated with the acceptance of Torah, as described in the following Midrash which quotes a verse from Song of Songs (4:11):
Sweetness drops from your lips, O bride; honey and milk are under your tongue and the scent of your robes is like the scent of Lebanon.
Simḥat Bat of Amalya Shaḥar Exler-Kaunfer PDF | ODT | TXT
Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler shared this Simḥat Bat Ceremony in the year 5770/2010 with a CC BY-SA license. Some additional material in the Birkhat Hamazon (Blessing for the Meal) was prepared by Dr. Devora Steinmetz and R’ David Silber.
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[...] Simḥat Bat by Devora Steinmetz and David Silber PDF | ODT | TXT Shared by Devora Steinmetz and David Silber in the year 5770/2010 with a Creative Commons Attribution/ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 3.0 Unported license. (Some of this material was used in the Simḥat Bat ceremony of Rabbi Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler for their daughter.) [...]
[...] Simḥat Bat ceremonies were contributed, both from teachers at Yeshivat Hadar (Mechon Hadar): one by Rav Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler, and one by Dr. Devora Steinmetz and Rabbi David [...]