Having a Baby in Jerusalem: Birth Grant, Registration, Tipat Chalav and the First Months

11 Nov 2026 · 10 min

Choosing a hospital, what Bituach Leumi pays and when, the birth certificate and sefach, the baby's first passport and health fund, Tipat Chalav, the savings-plan choice, car seats and daycare. In order, for English speakers.

Short answer: when your baby is born in an Israeli hospital, much of the paperwork starts by itself. The hospital reports the birth, Bituach Leumi pays the birth grant within a month (NIS 2,103 for a first child in 2026) and starts the child allowance, and the baby joins the health fund of the parent who receives that allowance. What you have to do yourself: register the baby's name and collect the birth certificate and updated sefach, make sure the maternity pay claim goes in, choose a savings-plan fund before the baby is six months old, book Tipat Chalav, and have an approved car seat ready. A first Israeli passport needs the baby there in person.

Amounts are Bituach Leumi's 2026 rates and change every January. Our families checklist has the deadlines in order.

Before the birth

Choosing a hospital

You can give birth at any hospital with a maternity department. Jerusalem has three large ones: Shaare Zedek in the west of the city, Hadassah Ein Kerem at the western edge, and Hadassah Mount Scopus in the north-east, next to French Hill. Our hospitals guide describes each one.

Visit first. Ask the hospital about tours or information evenings for expectant parents, and what it offers in English.
Know the route. Plan how you will get there at night and on Shabbat. Bituach Leumi pays for a Magen David Adom ambulance to take a woman in labour to hospital, as long as the birth happens there within three days (Bituach Leumi).
Ask about extras. If you want a private room or other extras, ask what they cost in advance.

Pregnancy care through your health fund

Register the pregnancy with your kupat cholim early. It arranges the routine blood tests, scans and check-ups, and your supplementary plan may cover more. Ask the fund for its list of what is included and what costs extra. Not yet in a fund, or thinking of switching? See choosing a health fund.

If your doctor tells you to stop work because of a risk to the pregnancy, a working woman may be entitled to Bituach Leumi's pregnancy bed rest benefit.

What the birth costs

For residents, normally nothing for the birth itself. Bituach Leumi pays the hospital a fixed hospitalisation grant directly: NIS 18,961 per birth as of November 2026, with a much larger supplement for very premature babies. To qualify, the mother checks into hospital within 24 hours of the birth and she or the baby stays for at least 12 hours (Bituach Leumi).

If neither you nor your partner is an Israeli resident, or you are a foreign worker or a foreign worker's wife, go to a Bituach Leumi branch up to two months before your due date to check whether you are covered.

The birth grant and maternity pay

Birth grant (ma'anak leida)

Paid automatically to the mother within a month of the birth: NIS 2,103 for a first child, NIS 946 for a second and NIS 631 for a third or later child. Twins get NIS 10,514 and triplets NIS 15,771. For a first child it goes into the account you give the hospital, otherwise into the account the child allowance is paid into (Bituach Leumi). Mothers who are Israeli residents, or married to one, and give birth abroad have to claim it.

Maternity pay (dmei leida)

Maternity pay replaces your wages while you are off work. It is for employed and self-employed mothers who stop working, and it depends on how long you have paid national insurance before you stop:

15 weeks paid if you paid contributions for 10 of the 14 months, or 15 of the 22 months, before you stopped work.
8 weeks paid if you paid for 6 of the 14 months.
Longer for twins or more (three extra weeks per extra baby on the full rate), and if mother or baby stays in hospital for 15 days or more.

The daily rate is the higher of your average income over the 3 or the 6 full months before you stopped work, up to NIS 1,752.33 a day in 2026, minus tax and contributions. It is paid in one payment. If you are self-employed, you must have been registered with Bituach Leumi as self-employed and paid contributions on time, and any debt to Bituach Leumi should be settled before the birth (conditions; rates).

How to claim

Employed: ask your employer to send Bituach Leumi a Form 100, and you do not need to file a claim. After the birth, Bituach Leumi may also text you asking permission to get your wage report from your employer; say yes and it is handled for you.
Self-employed: paid automatically once the hospital reports the birth.
Otherwise: file the claim online after the birth, with your employer's part of the form. Claims cannot go in earlier than nine weeks before the due date, and a claim filed more than 12 months after you stopped work may be refused (how to claim).

Leave for the other parent

A father who has himself paid contributions for 10 of 14 or 15 of 22 months can share the 15 weeks. He can take seven days at the same time as the mother, or take over the rest of the leave once six weeks have passed since the birth, for at least seven days in a row. The days come out of the mother's entitlement, the total stays at 15 weeks, and you cannot swap back once he has taken over (Bituach Leumi). He files a paternity allowance claim.

Registering the baby

The hospital reports the birth to the Population and Immigration Authority (Misrad HaPnim) and to Bituach Leumi. Keep every document the hospital gives you, including the birth notice.
Register the name. You can do it at the hospital. If you did not, a parent who is an Israeli citizen or resident can do it online, free, with a gov.il personal account, for a baby born in an Israeli hospital. The birth certificate is then issued within five working days and your updated sefachim are posted to your registered address (gov.il). Some cases, such as births that need extra medical confirmation, must go to a Population Authority office.
The birth certificate (teudat leida). Issued in Hebrew. Ask Misrad HaPnim for an English version as well if you will need it abroad.
The sefach. Each parent's teudat zehut has a paper appendix listing their children. Check that the new sefach shows the baby correctly; you will be asked for it by banks, schools and government offices.

If you are a citizen of another country

Registering the baby with your other country is separate and does not replace the Israeli registration. Each country has its own process, so start with your embassy:

United States. US citizen parents apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, usually together with the baby's first US passport, by appointment with the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Start with the embassy's US citizen services page.
United Kingdom. Registering the birth with the UK authorities is optional, and you can apply for a UK passport without it. If you do register, it is done online (GOV.UK).
Other countries. Ask your embassy which documents it needs; it may want the English birth certificate or an apostilled copy.

The first Israeli passport

The baby must come in person, with a parent, to a Population and Immigration Authority office. Book an appointment online for the baby specifically: every person needs their own appointment, including small children (Nefesh B'Nefesh; bookings at govisit.gov.il). Under age 12, only a photograph is taken, not fingerprints. Bring both parents' teudot zehut and the birth certificate. If the parents are not married to each other, or one parent cannot come, check the consent rules before the appointment.

We have not printed the fee because the published figures disagree; check it on gov.il and pay online before you go, which is usually cheaper. If the baby also has a foreign passport, ask the Population Authority which document the baby needs to leave Israel before you book flights.

The baby's health fund

Children are automatically members of the health fund of the parent who receives the child allowance. Bituach Leumi registers them as soon as the Ministry of the Interior reports the birth (Bituach Leumi).

Different funds? If the parents are in different funds and you want the baby in the other parent's, move the baby online on the Bituach Leumi website or at a post office. Until the baby is six months old, the move happens straight away if the parent in the chosen fund does it.
Check the app. A few weeks after the birth, check that the baby appears in the fund's app under your account, and choose a paediatrician.
Supplementary insurance. The baby has the basic basket from birth. Supplementary plans are the fund's own, so ask how it adds newborns and check the baby is on yours.

Seeing a doctor in Jerusalem explains paediatricians, after-hours centres and urgent care.

Tipat Chalav and vaccines

Tipat Chalav is the national network of well-baby clinics. It follows children from birth to age six, checks growth and development, and gives the routine vaccines, which are free. In Jerusalem a clinic may be run by the Ministry of Health, the municipality or a health fund.

Book the first visit soon after you come home. The gov.il booking service finds clinics and books appointments at those run by the Ministry of Health or the municipality, in Hebrew only. For a clinic run by your health fund, book through the fund. The family health line, *5400, takes calls Sunday to Thursday 16:00–21:00 and Friday and holiday eves 08:00–13:00.
The schedule. The first hepatitis B dose is given in hospital at birth. After that, vaccines are given at Tipat Chalav at 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months, with more later. Your clinic gives you the schedule and records each dose; keep the record, because the gan will ask for it.
MMRV at 18 months. Since 1 July 2026, children born from 1 January 2025 get their second MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox) dose at 18 months at Tipat Chalav instead of in first grade.

For everything else, from a fever at night to specialist referrals, use your health fund; see our kupat cholim guide.

Bituach Leumi: allowance and savings plan

Child allowance (kitzbat yeladim). Starts automatically after a birth in an Israeli hospital and is paid on the 20th of the month: NIS 173 for a first child and NIS 219 each for the second to fourth (2026 rates).
Savings plan (chisachon lekol yeled). Bituach Leumi also puts NIS 58 a month into a savings plan for every child, and you can add another NIS 58 taken from the allowance.
The six-month choice. Choose a provident fund or a bank, and an investment track, within six months of the birth. If you do not, the money goes to a default: the provident fund chosen for an older sibling, or for a first child a provident fund on the higher-risk track, and without the matching NIS 58 (Bituach Leumi).

Our Bituach Leumi guide covers the rest, including Jerusalem branches and the online personal area.

Car seats

The law. Children ride in a car seat or booster until age 8, and only seats made to Israeli standard 1107 may be sold here. A seat brought from abroad may not meet it.
Rear-facing. The Standards Institution advises keeping babies rear-facing until at least age one and 9 kg, and a rear-facing seat must never go in a front seat with an airbag (Standards Institution of Israel, Hebrew).
For the drive home. Buy and fit the infant seat before your due date, and practise fitting it. If you are going home by taxi, take the seat with you.

Brit milah and simchat bat

A brit milah is usually held on the eighth day, and is postponed if the baby is not well enough; the mohel and your doctor decide. Ask your rabbi or community for a mohel early, and ask the mohel about his certification and what he needs from you. Some families hold the brit in a synagogue or a hall, others at the hospital if the baby is still there; ask the maternity ward. For a girl, the name is usually given in synagogue at the Torah reading, and families often mark it with a simchat bat at home, in synagogue or in a hall.

Daycare later

If you are going back to work, start thinking about daycare during your leave. Registration for a supervised maon (daycare centre) and the Ministry of Labour subsidy is once a year: for 2026–27 it ran online from 15 February to 8 March 2026. The 2027–28 dates are not out yet, but expect the spring. The subsidy depends on income, and each parent must be working, studying or in another listed category (gov.il, Hebrew). Our gan and daycare guide compares maon, mishpachton and private options, and the families page has the deadlines.

Shopping for the baby

Big items (pram, cot, car seat): compare in the malls and online, and check the car seat standard before you buy. Malls and shopping centres and online shopping in Israel cover where to look.
Clothes: see children's clothing in our directory.
Formula, nappies and baby care: pharmacies stock them, and some stay open at night or on Shabbat. See pharmacies in our directory.

When you are ready for outings, Jerusalem with kids has ideas by age.

Common questions

How much is the birth grant in Israel?

In 2026, NIS 2,103 for a first child, NIS 946 for a second and NIS 631 for a third or later child, NIS 10,514 for twins and NIS 15,771 for triplets. Bituach Leumi pays it automatically within a month of a birth in an Israeli hospital.

How long is paid maternity leave in Israel?

15 weeks of maternity pay if you paid national insurance for 10 of the 14 months, or 15 of the 22 months, before you stopped work, and 8 weeks if you paid for 6 of the 14. The father can share the 15 weeks under Bituach Leumi's rules.

Do I have to register my baby with Misrad HaPnim?

The hospital reports the birth. You still need to register the baby's name, at the hospital or online on gov.il, to get the birth certificate and the updated sefach for each parent.

Can I get an Israeli birth certificate in English?

Yes. Ask Misrad HaPnim for an English version. Your other country's embassy may also want it apostilled, so check with them first.

Does my baby need to come to get an Israeli passport?

Yes. The baby must come in person with a parent, and needs their own appointment at a Population and Immigration Authority office. Check the fee and consent rules on gov.il before you go.

Which health fund is my baby in?

The fund of the parent who receives the child allowance, automatically. If you want the baby in the other parent's fund, move the baby on the Bituach Leumi website or at a post office; under six months it happens straight away.

When do I have to choose the savings plan?

Within six months of the birth. If you do not choose, Bituach Leumi puts the money in a default provident fund, without the matching NIS 58 from the allowance. You can switch provident fund later, but only to one on the Finance Ministry's list.