When Sheba Berachot are recited after a celebration for a bride and groom during the week after the wedding, may those who did not eat at the affair be invited to recite the special Berachot? In an earlier edition of Daily Halacha, we noted the ruling of Hacham Ovadia Yosef that the Berachot are not recited if either the bride or the groom did not eat at least a Ke’zayit (30 grams) of bread. (Some authorities allowed reciting the Berachot as long as the bride and groom are present, but Hacham Ovadia ruled that they must have both eaten bread for the Berachot to be recited.) The question arises as to whether those reciting the Berachot must also have participated in the festive meal, and, if so, what level of participation is required.
Several authorities ruled that one may recite the Sheba Berachot as long as he ate or drank something at the meal, even if he did not eat bread. For example, if a guest ate some meat or fish, or drank something, this suffices to allow him to recite a Beracha. This seems to have been the position of the Hazon Ish (Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, 1878-1953), as mentioned in the work Apiryon Shelomo, and there is also testimony that the Steipler Gaon (Rabbi Yaakov Kanievsky, 1899-1985) recited the Sheba Berachot despite not having eaten bread at the meal.
However, Hacham Ovadia Yosef, both in Yabia Omer (vol. 3, Eben Ha’ezer 11:7) and in Hazon Ovadia (vol. 1, 48), disagrees with this ruling. He maintains that only those who ate at least a Ke’zayit of bread at the celebration may be invited to recite the Sheba Berachot. The logic underlying this ruling is the fact that the Sheba Berachot were instituted as part of the Birkat Ha’mazon recitation. Just as, for example, we add Reseh to Birkat Ha’mazon on Shabbat, and we add Ya’aleh Ve’yabo on Rosh Hodesh and Yom Tob, similarly, we add seven special Berachot to Birkat Ha’mazon when celebrating in the home of a bride and groom. This premise may be inferred from the manner in which the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204) presents the Halacha of Sheba Berachot. He discusses these Halachot amidst his discussion of the laws of Birkat Ha’mazon, clearly indicating that he viewed the Sheba Berachot as part of the Misva of Birkat Ha’mazon. In fact, he even mentions the requirement to recite these Berachot in the context of the requirement to make the other additions to Birkat Ha’mazon – Al Ha’nissim, Reseh, the additions in a house of mourning, Heaven forbid, and Ya’aleh Ve’yabo (listen to audio recording for precise citation). It thus clearly emerges that the Sheba Berachot constitute part of the Birkat Ha’mazon recitation, and it therefore stands to reason that only those who ate a Ke’zayit of bread and are thus required to recite Birkat Ha’mazon are able to recite the Sheba Berachot.
This is also the ruling of the work Mishnat Yehoshua (chapter 24), who writes (listen to audio recording for precise citation) that when deciding to whom to give the honor of reciting the Sheba Berachot, care must be taken to ensure that only those who ate a Ke’zayit or more of bread are invited to recite Berachot.
Summary: The Sheba Berachot, which are recited after celebrations for a bride and groom during the week after the wedding, may be recited only by those who had eaten a Ke’zayit (30 grams) or more of bread at the celebration.
