Rosh Hashanah food. Photo: Deror Avi.

Rosh Hashanah 5775 and the new year ushered in a record number of new babies. Maayanei Hayeshua hospital in Bnei Brak reported that 140 women gave birth over the holiday, a number that well exceeds the daily average of between 30-35, and beats previous Rosh Hashana records. Because this year was a “three-day-holiday” – in that Rosh Hashana was immediately followed by Shabbat – many of the new mothers remained hospitalized an extra day. Maayanei Hayeshua reported that more than 12,000 babies were born in the hospital in 5774, making it the 3rd largest hospital for delivering babies in Israel.

The United Hatzalah emergency response service reported that in the 24 hours following the holiday, volunteer EMTs delivered a record five babies in Jerusalem and the surrounding area to women who did not reach the hospital in time.

Just after midnight on Saturday, an EMT made an emergency call to deliver the baby of a 23-year-old woman in Mea She’arim. The baby was not breathing as a result of the umbilical cord being wrapped around its neck, but the EMT was able to save the baby’s life. In another instance that occurred just after 9 AM on Sunday, a different United Hatzalah EMT worker delivered a baby in a taxi to a mother from Ramot who was on her way to the hospital.

In 5774, 90,646 boys were born and 85,584 girls, bringing the population of Israel up to 8,904,373.