הברכה שמח תשמח | Blessing for Joy: A Poetic Rendering of Sheva Brakhah no. 6 (Same’aḥ T’samaḥ), by Daniel Kieval

Contributor(s):

Daniel Kieval

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9 October 2018 under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International free-culture license

Categories:

Engagements & Weddings

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, devotional interpretation, wedding blessings, blessings, שבע ברכות sheva brakhot, ברכות brakhot, interpretive translation, North America, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

This is a poetic rendering of the sixth blessing (of the Sheva Brakhot/7 Blessings) for a wedding. It riffs off of themes and language in the Hebrew text of joy, love, and companionship, and invocations of the Garden of Eden, creation, and eternity. Written originally for the wedding of friends; I hope you’ll feel free to adapt and rework it however suits your needs!

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
שַׂמֵּֽחַ תְּשַׂמַּח רֵעִים הָאֲהוּבִים	May you bask in outrageous joy in the radiant glow of your companion, your beloved, your friend — pure and perfect each moment in each other’s presence as if you were just created tasting eternity looking into his face, looking into her face
כְּשַׂמֵּחֲךָ יְצִירְךָ	May you laugh all of your laughter, and also cry all of your tears
בְּגַן עֵֽדֶן מִקֶּֽדֶם.	May you know the joy of gardens: gardens of flowers and fruit of bees and butterflies of vines and hummingbirds and clear ponds gardens of surprise and delight of challenge and struggle of growth and birth and death
	From the garden may you learn to be rooted in the good Earth to weather the stormy rains and calm sunny skies to make friends with those that crawl down below, those unseen ones who maintain the very foundations
	May you dance and work and love and cry and look deeply until you can no longer tell the difference between this moment and paradise
‏בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ מְשַׂמֵּֽחַ חָתָן וְכַלָּה׃‏	and give gratitude to the Source that renews your rejoicing over and over

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“הברכה שמח תשמח | Blessing for Joy: A Poetic Rendering of Sheva Brakhah no. 6 (Same’aḥ T’samaḥ), by Daniel Kieval” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Daniel Kieval

Daniel Kieval works with children and families of all ages and trains educators in the curriculum and pedagogy of experiential Jewish environmental education. He joined Teva Learning Center in 2011, having previously taught at the Pearlstone Center's Jewish educational farm and at Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center. Daniel studied Biology at Wesleyan University and Permaculture and Ecovillage Design at Kibbutz Lotan in Israel.

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Works of related interest:

חנוכה שמח – מנדלה | Ḥanukkah Sameaḥ Mandala by Ḥatul Yehudi (Cat Jew)

שבע ברכות | Sheva Brakhot, the seven blessings following the Birkat Mazon at a wedding meal

new moon of Nissan to full moon of Nissan (credit: Aharon Varady, license: CC BY-SA)

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Blessing for Myself and for You, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

image of a tree at sunset (writing by kohenet ilana joy streit)

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Red Velvet Hamentaschen (Amy Kritzer 2016)

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Adar 5781 and the world that’s on its way, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

ISS028-E-020073 (31 July 2011) --- Photographed by an Expedition 28 crew member onboard the International Space Station, this image shows the moon at center, with the limb of Earth near the bottom transitioning into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and blue- colored atmosphere. The silvery-blue noctilucent clouds extend far above the Earth's troposphere.

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Adar Alef — by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17