Newborns at Ma'ayanei Hayeshu'a
Newborns at Ma'ayanei Hayeshu'aPhoto: Ma'ayanei Hayeshu'a

Thousands of babies were born in Israel over Rosh Hashana, with 150 of them born at Ma'ayanei Hayeshu'a hospital in Bnei Brak, which serves one of the largest concentrations of religious Jews in the world. Hospital officials said they expected increased “baby traffic” over the holiday, but were very pleasantly surprised at the sheer number of babies born at the hospital over the three day holiday.

Extra staff were placed on alert already last Wednesday, the eve of Rosh Hashana. With fewer regular staff on duty, hospital administrators sought to ensure that they could access personnel who live in the area as soon as they were needed.

As it happened, they were needed; for some reason, as yet unexplained, there was a “bumper crop” of babies born over the holiday, with over 150 births.

The large number of new babies filled all the birth wards at Ma'ayanei Hayeshu'a.

Fortunately, hospital administrators said, construction of a new birth ward, as well as a visitors' area, has just been completed. That will come in handy for next year – when Rosh Hashana once again takes place on Thursday and Friday, followed immediately by Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath).