Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss » (2ND)

"This book begins where the others leave off. While the doctors do what they must do, when it is time for us to wait, or hope, or cry, or sleep, or pray, it is time for this book. The passages found within are drawn from the rich pool of spiritual responses that Judaism possesses. They reach out to us and embolden us to join our voices to the ancient prayers designed to get us through the night."

Enables those frustrated and pained in their attempts at parenthood to mourn the loss of a pregnancy or infertility through the prayers, rituals, and meditations of the Jewish tradition. This new edition-updated and expanded-includes guided questions and pages on which to add personal reflections of your own emotions and experiences along the path toward parenting.

Preface to the Second Edition     9
Acknowledgments     11
Introduction     13
Using this book     22
A word to friends and family who are buying this book for loved ones     24
In the Beginning     25
Love poems     25
Prayers of hope     28
Mikveh prayers: a cool, private place     32
Give Me a Child: Prayers for Conception     37
Poems of fear, poems of hope     40
Prayers and rituals for a Friday night     45
Prayers for a childless man     51
Segulot: fertility folkways     53
Prayers for the Holidays     59
Prayers for Rosh Hashanah     60
Prayers to be said between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur     63
Prayers and rituals for Sukkot     65
Song for Hanukkah     69
Prayer for Tu B'shevat     69
Ritual for Passover     70
Shavuot     71
Prayer for Rosh Chodesh     72
Mourning Loss     7
The stain     76
Mourning miscarriage     78
Therapeutic loss     108
For those unable to conceive     112
Helping God Help Us:Prayers for Medical Intervention     115
Prayers to be said before an examination     116
Prayers to be said before a procedure     119
Prayers of love     120
A red stone     121
Remembering Our Love: Prayers for Husband and Wife     125
Pregnancy     129
Upon becoming pregnant     130
Prayers to be said throughout the pregnancy     132
Prayer to be said upon entering the seventh month     138
Prayer to be said upon entering the ninth month     139
Prayers for a woman in labor     141
Prayer of thanks for a healthy delivery     144
Stillbirth and Death     147
Funeral for a stillborn     149
Remembering     152
Lament of a grandparent     153
Friends     154
Waters of healing     156
Finding Peace     157
Words of comfort for a woman who cannot conceive     159
Prayer of renewal for husband and wife     160
On accepting infertility     161
Ritual for adoption     166
Epilogue-Eve and Deborah: Of Mothers, Mamas, Mothering     171
Laws and Practices Surrounding Stillbirth and Neonatal Loss   Rabbi Stephanie Dickstein     174
Notes     182
Journal Pages     189