To be read before you immerse:

As I welcome my child, I pray for strength, patience, and resilience. May the One who blessed those who came before me, guide me. May I be a role model, an active parent, and a source of encouragement.

I pray that in difficult times I have the strength to ask for help, and that in good times I have the wherewithal to appreciate the joys and blessings of my life.

May I know all the happiness and contentment that comes with watching a child grow and flourish.

Relax and let your body soften, as you slowly and completely immerse for the third time:

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha’olam shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu la’zman hazeh.

Blessed are You, Eternal God, for giving me life, sustaining me, and, through one miracle after another, bringing me to this moment.

Source: Mayyim Hayyim, Interpretive English translation by Matia Rania Angelou, Deborah Issokson, and Judith D. Kummer 

take a breath, and say:

תזכר נפשי את קדשת הגוף Tizkor nafshi et k’dushat haguf. (2)

I call to mind the holiness of the body. (3)

My body is a miracle. I am hopeful for my body’s capacity to grow life once more, and pray for the health and safety of this new life within me. As I continue the journey of growing my family, may the One who blesses all bless me with __________.

Take a moment for personal reflection and then immerse completely for a second time.

This ceremony was created by Matia Rania Angelou, Deborah Issokson, and Judith D. Kummer for Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters, and adapted by Matia Rania Angelou and Erika Sabbath. 

(1) Created by Mayyim Hayyim Ritual Creation Team, 2004

(2) Falk, Marcia. The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily

      Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival. [San Francisco,

      Calif.]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996, p. 13. Excerpted. Copyright

      © 1996 by Marcia Lee Falk

(3) Ibid, p. 12. Excerpted

(4) Tiferet Siegel, Hanna. “Birkat HaGomel.” Excerpted

(5) To learn more about Mayyim Hayyim visit: https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/ and to learn more about Recustom visit: https://www.recustom.com 

As I leave these healing waters, I look at my body and see the ways it has been transformed by this act of creation. I pray to be guided safely through the passage of labor and birth and that my baby will arrive with strength and vigor. May the wisdom I have gained through this pregnancy guide me as I open to the possibility of all that is yet to come.

Clip source: Mayyim Hayyim

To be read at the mikveh’s edge before you enter the water:

Eloheinu, v’Elohei Avoteinu v’Imoteinu, Our God, God of our Fathers and Mothers, I proudly follow in the line of my ancestors with the hope of inheriting their best characteristics.

I aspire toward the flowing kindness of Abraham and the laughter and amazement of Sarah. I hope to demonstrate the quiet faith of Isaac and the protective love of Rebecca. May I have the delicate balance of Jacob and the overflowing thankfulness of Rachel and Leah.

I enter these waters as a way of honoring the generations that came before me, and in acknowledgement of the future generations poised to come through this new life.

Slowly descend the steps into the mikveh waters and immerse completely so that every part of your body is covered by the warm water. When you emerge, recite the following blessing:

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha’olam asher kidshanu bi-t’vilah b’mayyim hayyim.

Blessed are You, God, Creator of all things, Who makes us holy by embracing us in living waters.

Source: Mayyim Hayyim ritual creation team, 2024

To be read at the mikveh’s edge before entering the water:

As I step into the waters of the mikveh, I am mindful of the steps I have already taken on this journey to become pregnant once again. Gently holding the difficulties I experienced in the past, with some trepidation I move forward with hope and expectation. I step into these living waters to be supported and protected with my physical and mental well-being.

Clip source: Mayyim Hayyim