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The Very Best Sheva Brachot Theme Ideas

June 30, 2011 By talitarlow Leave a Comment

If you’re hosting Sheva Brachot you want to make the evening memorable and fun – especially for the bride and groom.  These days

Western Theme Sehva Brachot Invitations

Western Theme Sheva Brachot Invitations from http://www.w-weddinginvitations.com/

Country themes

“Countries” are good themes – you can do Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Israeli, American, Hawaiin – you can serve food connected to that country, decorate tables with flag colors.  If you want an informal and fun atmosphere guests can make their own felafels/taco’s etc!  If you can’t decide what country to choose you can do an international theme – with a variety of tastes and colors!

Highlighted: Chinese theme

Menu: Chinese Corn Soup, Egg Rolls and Dumplings, Fried Rice, Moo Shoo Chicken, and fortune cookies for dessert.

Deco and extras: Red, black and gold color scheme and some Chinese lanterns and chopsticks.

Connect the Sheva Brachot to an important date

If the Sheva Brachot is on or near an important date, then you can use that date as a theme – birthday theme, Superbowl, elections, festival like Chanukah or Purim etc.

Highlighted: Birthday theme

Menu: Desert can include birthday cake, jelly and ice cream.

Deco and extras: Birthday balloons, birthday banners, bride and groom wear party hats.

Couple- specific Sheva Brachot

You can connect the theme to the couple – a favorite TV program or movie, hobby or pastime, their work (medical theme, numbers theme, school theme), where they met etc.

Highlighted: Medical theme

Menu: Desert can include pudding,  jelly and ice cream.

Deco and extras: Guests can receive a hospital bracelet with their table number on it,  pillboxes filled with candies can decorate the tables. Hosts can wear scrubs. Menu can be on clipboards.

Color Code Sheva Brachot

Colors and color combinations can be a nice theme – stark colors like “black and white” will lend a feeling of elegance.

And some more fun Sheva Brachot themes:

  • Smiley
  • Facebook
  • Star Wars
  • Persia
  • Bedoin
  • Safari
  • Outer space
  • Summer
  • Beach
  • Western
  • The Royal Wedding
  • BBQ Sheva Brachot
  • “Picnic”style
  • Fairy tales
  • Children’s stories
  • College
  • Garden Party

What is your favorite Sheva brachot theme?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You’re hosting sheva brachot – so make it fun!

April 13, 2011 By talitarlow Leave a Comment

Sheva Brachot art from Gallerjudaica.com

Sheva Brachot art from Gallerjudaica.com

Choose a theme

Invite attendees to come dressed according to the theme.  You can decorate the table, and even make food according to the theme. Some examples of themes: cartoon characters, The Superbowl, men in black, a favorite TV show, characters from the bible or a country. The theme can be connected to the bride and groom (how or where they met, where they grew up, where they will live etc).

Play games

In between courses of the meal you can ask guests to prepare rhymes or riddles using information about the couple, or you can prepare a quiz or a game based on a TV show.

Popular games include:

  • Giving out “recipe cards” to the guests asking them all to write their own recipe for life. The cards are then collected and given to the bride and groom.  Interesting ones can be read out
  • Passing a bag of random objects round the table asking people to relate the object they pick out of the bag to the couple and/or their lives together.
  • ‘Mr & Mrs’ style quiz where amusing questions are asked about the couple to one another.

Power point!

Prepare a Power Point presentation based on the couple. You can use pictures from their youth, from their “courtship” or experiences that you shared with them.

Write a song or a poem

Surprise the couple with a song or a poem that you have written about them. You can make copies of it and invite all the guests to sing along in the chorus.

Prepare souvenirs

Prepare something small for everyone to take home e.g. a laminated picture of the couple with an inscription conveying good wishes from the hosts, or a nice sheva brachot card with the text of the brachot and a picture of the chatan and kallah.

 

Do you have any sheva brachot ideas, themes or games to share?

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Text for sheva brachot blessings

April 13, 2011 By talitarlow Leave a Comment

ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם, בורא פרי הגפן

Kiddish Cup for Sheva Brachot from bluewhite.co.uk

Kiddish Cup for Sheva Brachot from bluewhite.co.uk

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Transliteration: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, bo’re p’ri hagafen.
Translation: “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.”

 

ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם, שהכל ברא לכבודו.

Transliteration: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam shehakol bara lichvodo.
Translation: “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who created everything for his Glory.

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ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם, יוצר האדם.

Transliteration: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, yotzer haa’dam.
Translation: “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who creator of man.

 

ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם, אשר יצר את האדם בצלמו, בצלם דמות תבניתו, והתקין לו ממנו בניין עדי עד. ברוך אתה ה’, יוצר האדם.

Transliteration: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, asher yatzar et ha-adam b’tzalmo, b’tzelem d’mut tavnito, v’hitkin lo mimenu banyan adei ad. Baruch atah Adonai, yotzeir ha-adam.
Translation: Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who creates man in your image, fashioning perpetuated life. Blessed are You, LORD, creator of man.

 

שוש תשיש ותגל עקרה, בקיבוץ בניה לתוכה בשמחה. ברוך אתה ה’, משמח ציון בבניה.

Transliteration: Sos tasis v’tageil ha-akara b’kibutz baneha l’tocha b’simcha. Baruch atah Adonai, m’sameach Tzion b’vaneha.
Translation: May Zion rejoice as her children are restored to her in joy. Blessed are You, LORD, who causes Zion to rejoice her children’s return.

 

שמח תשמח רעים האהובים, כשמחך יצירך בגן עדן מקדם. ברוך אתה ה’, משמח חתן וכלה.

Transliteration: Sameiach Tesameach reiim ha-ahuvim k’sameichachca y’tzircha b’gan eden mikedem. Baruch atah Adonai, m’sameiach chatan v’chalah.
Translation: Grant perfect joy to these loving companions, as you did your creations in the Garden of Eden. Blessed are You, LORD, who grants the joy of groom and bride.

 

ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם, אשר ברא ששון ושמחה, חתן וכלה, גילה רינה, דיצה וחדווה, אהבה ואחווה, ושלום ורעות, מהרה ה’ אלקינו ישמע בערי יהודה ובחוצות ירושלים, קול ששון וקול שמחה, קול חתן וקול כלה, קול מצהלות חתנים מחופתם, ונערים ממשתה נגינתם. ברוך אתה ה’, משמח חתן עם הכלה.

Transliteration: Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher bara sason v’simcha chatan v’kallah, gilah rinah ditzah v’chedvah, ahavah v’achavah v’shalom v’reut. M’hera Adonai Eloheinu yishammah b’arei Yhudah uv-chutzot Y’rushalayim kol sason v’kol simcha, kol chatan v’kol kalah, kol meitzhalot chatanim meichupatam u-narim mimishte n’ginata. Baruch atah Adonai, m’sameiach chatan im hakalah.
Translation: Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who created joy and gladness, groom and bride, mirth, song, delight and rejoicing, love and harmony and peace and companionship. LORD our God, may there ever be heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem voices of joy and gladness, voices of groom and bride, the jubilant voices of those joined in marriage under the bridal canopy, the voices of young people feasting and singing. Blessed are You, LORD, who causes the groom to rejoice with his bride.

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Customs for your Sheva Brachot meal!

April 13, 2011 By talitarlow Leave a Comment
Sheva Brachot wine cups

Silver cups used for Sheva Brachot

When the meal is concluded, it is time for the highlight of the event — the Sheva Brachot blessings. After the grace is completed, six of the guests are invited to take a cup of wine and recite a blessing of the Sheva Brachot.

Laws and Customs:

  • Before the Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals), two full cups of wine are prepared; one for the individual who leads Birkat Hamazon, and the other for the Sheva Brachot blessings. The one who leads Birkat Hamazon adds some words to the customary call to order: “Let us bless our G‑d in whose abode there is joy, of whose bounty we have eaten.” All those in  attendance respond in kind.
  • In some communities it is customary for the one leading  Birkat Hamazon to add “Devai Haser” into the introduction to Birkat HaMazon (Grace after meals). This hymn prays for the day when the Temple will be rebuilt, when we will all experience ultimate joy. Some omit this hymn during a Shabbat Sheva Brachot.
  • After Birkat HaMazon is completed, six of the guests are invited to recite the first six blessings of the Sheva Brachot. The last blessing is considered the most prestigious one, and is normally reserved for a special guest. Each of the honorees recites the blessing while sitting and holding the Sheva Brachot cup.
  • After the six blessings are recited, the person who led Birkat HaMazon  recites the hagafen (wine) blessing and drinks from his cup. In many communities, the one who recited the last of six blessings also recites the hagafen and drinks from his cup. The wine in the two cups are then blended (a bit of wine from each cup is poured into the other), and the groom sips from one cup and the bride from the other.
  • A minyan must be present in order to recite the Sheva Brachot. This is an important detail to bear in mind when creating the guest list! If there is no minyan, only the last blessing of the Sheva Brachot, the Asher Barah blessing, is recited over a cup of wine — and this, too, only if there are three adult men (a “mezuman”) present.
  • Another important consideration to take into account when creating a guest list is the need for the presence of a “new face,” i.e. someone who wasn’t present by the wedding or any of the previous Sheva Brachot.

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