A seudat nissuin (Hebrew, 'wedding feast' or 'marriage supper') is a seudat mitzvah that observant Jews eat after a Jewish wedding. It is a mitzvah to have a joyful wedding reception.[ Aish: Guide to Jewish Wedding]
Order of the meal
Before the meal begins, the newlyweds are blessed. Next, the
kosher wine and
challah to be served are blessed.
[ Jewish Wedding Photography: Blessing of the Challah] After the day's meal is over,
Birkat Hamazon and
Sheva Brachot are recited, and the newlyweds dance. A seudat nissuin typically lasts a week called a
sheva brachot ('seven blessings') week. If the newlyweds were married before, the seudat nissuin lasts three days instead of seven, and the blessings are only recited after the first day's meal.
[ Documents And Designs: Jewish Wedding Program Templates][Joseph Judah Chorny, Sefer HaMassa'ot, 1884 (published posthumously)][Abraham Danzig, Chayei Adam (Wisdom of Man) 129:4]
Reference in the Bible
Old Testament
In , after marrying, Tobiah and Sarah "began to eat and drink" with their parents.
[ USCCB Tobit 7:12-14] is also a possible reference to a seudat nissuin.
[ USCCB Genesis 24:54]
New Testament
In the
New Testament, Jesus tells two parables about a seudat nissuin called the Parable of the Wedding Feast and the Parable of the Great Banquet. Jesus also attends the Wedding at Cana, turning water into kosher wine for the seudat nissuin.
[ Biblehub: John 2:1-11] In , the Lamb of God is depicted holding a seudat nissuin.
[ Biblehub: Rev. 19:9]
Reference in rabbinic literature
Adam in rabbinic literature enjoys a seudat nissuin with his wife
Eve.
Angels serve them the meal. After the meal, Adam and Eve dance with the angels.
[ Sefaria: Sanedrin 59b] In Jewish eschatology, the messiah will hold a seudat nissuin with the righteous of every nation, called a Seudat Chiyat HaMatim, and they will feast on the cooked flesh of the
Leviathan.
[ Jewish Encyclopedia: Leviathan and Behemoth]
Reference in Christian writings
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the
Eucharist is called the wedding feast of the Lamb "where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride."
[ CCC 2618][ CCC 1617]
See also
