Venue: UMJCA Sephardic Bet Midrash (Great Neck, NY) UMJCA Sephardic Bet Midrash (Great Neck, NY)

Halacha:

Sephardi Halacha,  Weddings 

Collections: Mordechai Djavaheri Under the Chuppah

References: Ketuvot: 7A  

Description

The Rambam (Hilchot Ishut 10:4) records the Minhag to recite the Beracha on Besamim between HaGefen and Shehakol Bara Lichvodo. Some Sepharadim maintain the custom, but Syrians do it between the earlier HaGefen and Birkat Erusin. This is a great opportunity to honor someone who does not have the Hebrew fluency to comfortably recite the later, more complicated berachot. Many people have said besamim from time to time, and will feel honored to be called up to recite it with ease. Ashkenazim do not have this custom, and, more than once, I have been met with push back from Ashkenazi rabbis who are unfamiliar with this explicit Rambam and question the legitimacy of this custom. Whereas Ashkenazim may make an argument that it is an interruption (hefsek) for Ashkenazim to recite it, there’s no reason to prevent a Sephardic couple from having it recited under a Sephardic Chuppah.