Why seven blessings

Blessed are You God, Spirit of all things, who has created the human being. Blessed are You God, Foundation of every life, who fashioned humanity in Your likeness, and prepared for us a shape and form in your image, from one generation to the next and for all eternity. Blessed are You God, who has created human beings. Zion will surely celebrate and exult in the coming together of her children. Blessed are You God, who brings joy to Zion through her children.

Give pleasure to these beloved companions as you did to your creation in the Garden of Eden so long ago. Blessed are you God, who makes the hearts of this couple rejoice. Blessed are You God, Source of the universe, who has created each of these two people, their delight and their happiness, their rejoicing and singing and dancing and festivity, love and friendship, peace and pleasure.

Oh God, may the voices of this celebration be heard in the streets of our cities and the hills of our countryside. May the words of this couple go out with gladness from their wedding chuppah , and may the music of their friends and guests surround them. Blessed are You God, who brings joy to the hearts of this couple.

Blessed is the one who created the fruit of the vine. Bless the two of you who come out of long traditions of struggling to find out what it is to be human. May you be full of the wine of life. May the life force and the knowledge of the human heart always be with you. Blessed is the One. All creation mirrors your splendor and reflects your radiance.

Bless the two of you. May the two of you know that all beauty comes from the Great Heart, and may you always live in its radiance. Blessed is the one who created human beings. May you know it all—joy and struggle, beauty and sorrow, sweat, tears, solitude, companionship, laughter, and ecstasy.

May your marriage be strong enough to support you to experience whatever you must as you come to know yourselves and each other and to discover the entire range of your humanity in the process of soul-making.

Blessed is the one who created us in the divine image, so we may live, love, and perpetuate life. May you delight in the wonder and impossibility of the fact that you are so similar and so different—may the difficulty and enormous pleasure of being a man and woman continually fascinate and engage you and be the source of your bonding.

Blessed is the one who brings people together and unites the divided. In joy, we have come to witness this marriage of many cultures. It is said that everyone gets married at a wedding.

May you be inspired each day by the abundance of the natural world, science and technology, as well as art, music, literature, and creative expression. Blessed is the essence of humankind. People have the capacity for love and friendship, generosity, kindness, and compassion. May you express these qualities freely and be blessed to receive them throughout your lives. Blessed is the design of humankind.

The diversity of humanity is remarkable: out of the same basic shape, infinite variations. Blessed is the joy of this gathering. Despite its blessings, we live in a broken world.

May you be blessed to live in a world where there is food for those who are hungry, homes for those who are homeless, freedom for those who are oppressed, and peace and equality for all.

Blessed is the joy of lovers. Today we celebrate with this couple as they freely unite in marriage. May you live in a world where this freedom is extended to all couples, allowing anyone to marry without judgment, impediment, or persecution.

Blessed is the joy of gladness and celebration. Blessed is the human capacity for joy, embodied in the symbol of wine. The ritual of drinking wine at Jewish celebrations is an expression of joy and sanctification. May you find something to celebrate every day of your life, and may your cup runneth over. Praised be the enlightened one amongst humans, who understands that the world was not created for him. Praised be the one who is thankful for the evolution of humans.

Let the barren city be joyful and exulted at the ingathering of her children into her midst in gladness. Praised be the one who shares in the gladness of Zion at the return of her children.

Let us gladden the loving couple, so they may enjoy gladness like the legendary gladness of paradise. Praised be the one, who gladdens the bridegroom and the bride. Praised be those who increase, joy and gladness, bridegroom and bride, exultation, song, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. May there soon be heard, all over the world, as in the cities of Judea and as in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the happy shouting of bridegrooms from their weddings and of young men and women from their song-filled feasts.

Praised be the one, who causes the bridegroom and bride to be glad together. Secular Jews sometimes replace the traditional seven benedictions by asking seven close friends or family members to each give a personal wish for the marriage and the future. Others instead ask everyone to recite seven values they feel are important for strong marriages.

Examples include trust, love, communication, honesty, respect, happiness, and compassion. Blessed art though, O Lord, King of the Universe, who created mirth and joy, bridegroom and bride, gladness, jubilation, dancing, and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and fellowship. Quickly, O Lord our God, may the sound of mirth and joy be heard in the streets of Judah and Jerusalem, the voice of bridegroom and bride, jubilant voices of bridegrooms from their canopies and youths from the feasts of song.

Blessed art though, O Lord, who makes the bridegroom rejoice with the bride. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hath created joy and gladness, bridegroom and bride, mirth and exultation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship.

May there soon be heard in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the jubilant voice of bridegrooms from the wedding canopy, and of youths from their feasts of song.

Blessed art thou, O Lord, who gives the Bridegroom joy in his bride. My beloved speaks and says to me: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely.

Set me as a seal upon your heart and seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy cruel as the grave. Many waters cannot quench love; neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned. I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine. Ruth said: Entreat me not to leave thee, Or to return from following after thee: For whither thou goest, I will go, And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.

Thy people shall be my people, And thy God my God. Some couples use the traditional text while others write alternative, modern versions. The seven blessings are repeated again at the wedding reception and then once a day for the next seven nights. Loved ones host meals or gatherings in the couple's honor, also called the Sheva Brachot, where the blessings are recited again. This is a way for the community to continue to celebrate with the newlyweds and sanctify their marriage.

The tradition of celebrating a marriage for seven days dates back to biblical times. In fact, scholars discussed the idea in the Talmud, a book of Jewish law written in the second century C.

The blessings recited over the couple also come from ancient rabbinic teachings and express joy and hope for the new union. Brides and grooms are adding modern twists to this tradition. Many request the blessings be recited in both Hebrew and English during their ceremony.

Some opt for alternative translations or ask people they love to write unique blessings for them. Meet the Expert. While religious couples tend to have Sheva Brachot meals for seven days after their weddings, more modern couples skip it for their honeymoon. The Sheva Brachot are first recited under the chuppah the wedding canopy. At more traditional weddings they are recited again after the meal at the reception. If not, you can ask them to read an English translation. The seven blessings are recited twice during a Jewish wedding: once when the couple is standing under the wedding canopy and again during the blessings after the meal.

The latter can take place in the reception hall or wherever the meal was served. The blessings are usually chanted over a cup of wine, from which the couple then drinks.