The first birth of the Jewish New Year 5787 occurred in Galilee at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center – formerly known as the Poriya Medical Center – on Friday, when a baby girl was born to Hodiya Cohen-Alilishvili of Hodayot.
The expectant mother was 39 weeks pregnant when she arrived at the hospital, and her new baby weighed just over three kilograms at birth.
Cohen-Alilishvili arrived directly from a Rosh Hashanah celebration with her husband Tal and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter at her parents’ home in Tiberias, where she began having contractions.
Shift supervisor and deputy midwife Tahrir Masalha, who attended the mother, described her as being “calm and determined” when she arrived.
Masalha: 'No better way to start the new year'
“She had a natural birth without pain medication and cooperated amazingly throughout the entire process,” Masalha said.
“For us as a team, there is no better way to start the new year than with a birth and new life,” she added. “It was a great privilege to be there with the family at such a moment, especially at the start of a new year filled with joy and hope.”