The Seven-Faceted Blessing ( he, ברכה אחת מעין שבע, ''berakha aḥat me‘en sheva‘'') is a blessing recited in the Jewish liturgy of Friday evenings. It is similar to the out-loud
repetition of the Amidah, which is recited in each daytime prayer. On typical evenings, the
Amidah
The ''Amidah Amuhduh'' ( he, תפילת העמידה, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' at each o ...
is recited only silently, with no out-loud repetition, but on Friday nights, in honor of the Sabbath, the Seven-Faceted Blessing is recited as an abbreviated repetition.
As the normal Sabbath Amidah prayer contains seven blessings, the Seven-Faceted Blessing contains a condensed version of the themes in these seven blessings. The Seven-Faceted Blessing begins with the beginning of the text of the first blessing of the Amidah; continues with the paragraph “Magen Avot” (מגן אבות), which summarizes the themes of all seven blessings of the Sabbath Amidah; and concludes with a paragraph about the sanctity of the sabbath, and a concluding sentence: "Blessed are You, O Lord, who sanctifies the Sabbath."
The Seven-Faceted Blessing is recited every Friday evening of the year, even if it coincides with a festival or
Yom Kippur. This is in contrast to most of the Sabbath liturgy, which is jettisoned if a particular Sabbath falls on a festival or on Yom Kippur.
In the Eastern Ashkenazic rite and in most Sephardic communities, this blessing is omitted on the first night of
Passover, because that is considered a "time of protection"; in the Western Ashkenazic rite as well as many Chasidic communities, it is recited as normal.
The text of the Seven-Faceted Blessing (in accordance with the
Ashkenazic version—other traditions have very similar versions—can be found in Seder Avodat Yisra’el on pp. 190–191. The text used in most Western Sephardic Communities can be found in "Seder Tefilah" of
Mantua.
In medieval Europe, it was fairly common for congregations to insert special poems, called
Magen Avot piyyutim, into the middle of this blessing; while this is less common today, some Western Ashkenazic communities (such as
Khal Adath Jeshurun
Khal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) is an Orthodox German Jewish Ashkenazi congregation in the Washington Heights neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It has an affiliated synagogue in the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Monse ...
) recite such a piyyut when the second night of Shavuot falls on the Sabbath.
[See Wolf Heidenheim, ed., ''Maḥzor for the Festival of Shavu‘ot'' (Hebrew: מחזור לחג השבועות), Rödelheim 1831; folio 77a; available online at: http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=43202&st=&pgnum=218.]
References
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Jewish prayer and ritual texts
Jewish blessings
Maariv
Shabbat prayers