Sheva Berakhot

Prayer

The sheva berakhot ("seven blessings") were established to celebrate a marriage, invoking the happy fulfillment of God's plan through marriage. They are recited at the wedding itself and at most festive meals eaten by first-time brides and grooms during their first week of marriage.

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Blessings of Joy and Union

LITURGY

The Sheva Berakhot celebrate the joy and union of the bride and groom, invoking blessings for future happiness in the cities of Judah and Jerusalem. These seven blessings are recited during Jewish wedding ceremonies, both under the chuppah and at festive meals, to celebrate and bless the marriage.

1. Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the Universe Who creates the fruit of the vine. After Birkas Hamazon the "Seven Berachos" begin here, and are followed by number 1 above. 2. Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the Universe Who created everything for His glory. 3. Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the Universe Former of man. 4. Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the Universe Who formed man (Adam) in His image, in the image of His likeness; and fashioned for him out of his very self a building (a wife: Eve) for eternity…

Siddur Sefard, Various Blessings, Sheva Berachot 1-8

The Seven Blessings of Marriage

TALMUD

The Sheva Berakhot, or seven blessings, require a quorum and the presence of new faces during the seven days of wedding celebrations. The talmudic tractate Ketubot outlines the specific requirements for reciting these blessings, emphasizing the importance of community and new participants in the festivities.

§ The Sages taught: One recites the benediction of the grooms in a quorum of ten men all seven days of the wedding celebration. Rav Yehuda said: And that is the case only when new faces who did not previously participate in the festivities came to join the celebration.

Ketubot 7b:11

The Mystical Renewal of Sheva Berakhot

HALAKHAH

The concept of panim hadashot (a new face), necessary for the recitation of Sheva Berakhot, is connected in the mystical tradition with the renewal associated with Shabbat. In the 14th-century kabbalistic text Shulchan Shel Arba, Rabbi Bachya ben Asher explores the spiritual significance of panim hadashot in the context of marriage and Shabbat.

And when I explained to you the requirement for three meals on Shabbat and informed you of its reward, I revealed it to you only partially, leaving some of it secret. Now I shall explain to you further the topic of panim hadashot –“a new face.” This refers to the virtue particularly associated with Malkhut, about which Scripture remarked when it said, “Let us make human being in Our image and according to Our likeness,” and when it is the great Shabbat, for indeed when Shabbat comes, a “new face” comes…

Shulchan Shel Arba 1:47

The Communal Nature of Jewish Marriage

COMMENTARY

The requirement of a quorum for the Sheva Berakhot underscores the communal nature of a Jewish marriage, contrasting it with non-Jewish practices where marriage is seen as a private affair. Rabbi Chaim Jachter’s contemporary commentary on the book of Ruth explores the significance of Boaz assembling ten men for his marriage to Rut, emphasizing the public and communal aspects of Jewish marriage.

We suggest two reasons for the assemblage of ten men. First, the Gemara (Ketubot 7b) derives from Boaz’s assembly of ten men that a minyan is required for birkat chatanim, wedding blessings. This teaches that marriage is not only a private matter between the chatan and kallah, but rather, it is a public matter as well. Unlike non-Jewish couples who retreat to a private honeymoon immediately after the wedding, Jews have a week of public celebrations — sheva berachot — because marriage is seen also a communal matter…

Megillat Ruth; From Chaos to Kingship, Perek 4 26:22

The Divine Completion Through Marriage

COMMENTARY

The blessings recited during Jewish wedding ceremonies symbolize the theological and philosophical completion of creation through marriage. Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz’s 18th-century Talmud commentary, the Haflaah, delves into the significance of these blessings, emphasizing the union of Adam and Eve as the culmination of divine creation.

In the Talmud, that "all was created for his honour" [second of the sheva brachot]. It's possible to explain this because the purpose of creation of the whole world was because of humanity, and in it creation was completed, as Chaza"l have said that Adam [humanity] was the last act of creation, and Adam was not completed until a partner was found for him. It turns out that Adam takes Chava in marriage and so completes creation; for this reason, we bless over creation, that "all was created for his honour"…

Haflaah on Ketubot 8a:1

The Mystical Union of Wedding Blessings

KABBALAH

The blessings recited at Jewish weddings are rooted in the divine blessings given to Adam and Eve, symbolizing a mystical union. The Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, explores the spiritual significance of marriage, drawing parallels between earthly and divine unions.

then God blessed them, like the reader of the service who blesses the bride with seven blessings.

Zohar, Tazria 12:45

Rejoicing Together

RESPONSA

The traditional practice of gender separation during Sheva Berakhot is challenged, advocating for a more inclusive celebration that honors both the bride and groom together. Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin, a leading Modern Orthodox authority, addresses the importance of including the bride in the Sheva Berakhot festivities.

When sheva berachot were held at my grandfather's apartment on one of the nights after our wedding, the organizers seated my wife in a corner outside the dining room with a handful of women. I protested, and some of what I wrote here I said there. I cited the case of R. Acha in Ketuvot 17a and Ritva at the end of Kidushin. Even according to those who hold that no one today can claim that a woman is like a "wooden beam" to him, i. e., that he has no hirhur, this applies to extraordinary circumstances such as carrying a bride on one's shoulders as described in the…

Responsa Benei Banim, Volume I 35:10

Weddings Boost Festival Joy

HALAKHAH

One may get married the day before a festival and recite Sheva Berakhot at the festive meals, enhancing the joy of both the wedding and the festival. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, in his contemporary presentation of Jewish law, Peninei Halakhah, discusses the interplay between wedding celebrations and Jewish festivals.

One may get married the day before a festival and recite Sheva Berakhot at the festive meals, because in such a case, the joy of the festival is primary, and the joy of the Sheva Berakhot does not detract from it but rather reinforces it (SA 546:3).

Peninei Halakhah, Festivals 10:4:4

The Communal Force of Marriage

CHASIDUT

The seven blessings recited at Jewish weddings symbolize the transformation of the couple into a communal entity. Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the second Sochatchover Rebbe, offers homiletical teachings that emphasize how marriage integrates individuals into the community.

The matter of sheva berakhot (seven blessings said in honor of a bride and groom) is that seven is a communal number. And at the time of marriage, one becomes a communal person. This is like [the Sages'] statement, may their memory be blessed (Rosh Hashanah 32b), "Since many will come out (be born) from her, she is like a community." And since the number, sheva berakhot, is relevant to him - meaning, that the communal force which is in Him, may He be blessed, is [now also] within him - this [new status] requires sheva berakhot.

Shem MiShmuel, Ki Tavo 2:5

Jewish wedding, Israels, Joseph, The Netherlands 1903, Jewish Historical Museum Collection (Jewish Cultural Quarter), Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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