IV) The Ashkenazic Custom – The Hollekreisch

This custom existed for some 900 years in Germany and has been discussed by many scholars. It took place on the first Shabbat when the mother went to the synagogue, which was on the fourth Shabbat or on the thirteeth day after the birth. It took place after Shabbat lunch. Boys recited the Hollekreisch for boys and girls for girls. The newborn children were dressed up; baby boys were dressed in a tallit and the book of Vayikra (Leviticus) was placed in the crib.

Before the naming, a series of verses were recited from the Pentateuch.

Then, they would lift up the crib and shout in German:

Hollekreisch ! How shall the baby be called? Ploni Ploni Ploni (i.e. his or her name three times).

This is repeated three times and then nuts, sweets and fruits were given to the boys and girls.

Originally, this was the German custom for both boys and girls. In time, they stopped performing the ceremony for boys, since they were named in any case at the brit , and they observed it only for girls. Rabbi Ya'akov Emden (d. 1776) says there was not a fixed custom to recite the verses for girls. Girls received a Hebrew name or a secular name at the Hollekreisch .

There are at least six different explanations for the word Hollekreisch . For example, some suggest that it comes from the French “haut la crèche”, to raise the crib. This is not convincing because the word is always quoted by German rabbis, not French. Others said that Hollekreisch means a “holy cry”. This interpretation is not correct, because the ceremony included giving a secular name or just a secular name.

The most convincing explanation is that Holle is Lilith or an evil spirit which attacks infants and that they cried “Holle” in order to chase away the evil spirit from the baby. This explanation fits the well- known method of making noise in order to chase away evil spirits.

V) A Wide Variety of Customs from the Sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries

Beginning in the sixteenth century, we hear of twenty different customs regarding the proper time to name a baby girl. In Ashkenaz, they preferred synagogue ceremonies, while the Sefaradim and Oriental Jews preferred home ceremonies. Here is a sampling of different customs:

1) The first time the mother comes to the synagogue after the birth;
2) On the day of birth;
3) At the first Torah-reading after birth;
4) On the first Shabbat after birth;
5) On the second Shabbat after birth;
6) At the Shisha , on the sixth night, as mentioned above;
7) One full week after the birth;
8) On the eighth day;
9) Two weeks after birth;
10) On the thirteeth day;
11) On the fourteeth day;
12) On the eighteeth day;
13) On Rosh Hodesh;
14) Within a year of birth.

VI) Some Concluding Observations

It is clear from the above that the most ancient custom is to name a girl at birth. This was the biblical custom which seems to have continued throughout the Talmudic period even when boys began to be named at the brit . If my hypothesis about Shavua Habat is correct, there was a custom in the third century to name girls on the seventh day after birth.

A more well-attested custom is the Hollekreisch , going back 900 years. According to this custom, a girl is named on the fourth Shabbat or on the thirteeth day after birth.

All the other customs are late, and each was or is practiced by various groups of Jews and is explained in various fashions.

What can we learn from all of the above about the status of women in Judaism? It is difficult to give a definitive answer. On the one hand, the time for naming babies in the biblical period and in Ashkenaz was egalitarian for boys and girls, and in Ashkenaz the entire ceremony was almost identical. On the other hand, one could claim that the lack of a unified custom for girls beginning in the sixteenth century shows that girls are less important in Judaism than boys. However, there is another way to explain the different customs. One could claim that originally, in the biblical period, the naming ceremony was uniform and egalitarian. The transfer of the naming of boys to the brit in the first century weakened the status of the original custom of naming girls at birth. This weakening led to the creation of the wide variety of customs described above.