A bentcher, birchon or birkon (pl. bentchers, birchonim, birkonim) is a booklet of prayers based around a particular event such as the Jewish sabbath. The most common form is

Birkat Hamazon Birkat Hamazon ( "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew language, Hebrew blessings that Halakha, Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at le ...

often titled - Seder Birkat Hamazon (Order of Grace after Meals) in Hebrew. Some editions actually have the Birkat Hamazon prayer in the back, appearing almost as an afterthought. Bentchers are commonly known as ''birchonim'' in

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...

and

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

communities. Bentchers are used widely in the various religious and traditional communities of Jews, such as Orthodox,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, Reconstructionist,

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' () has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''eastern'', it may refer to: * Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East and North Africa * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberia ...

Chassidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those affi ...

, Orthodox Feminist, as well as other communities. Bentchers are often decorated with scrollwork, illuminations, pictorial backgrounds on each page, photo pages and by other means. This is in the tradition of ''hiddur mitzvah'', or beautification of the

mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew language, Hebrew word (; , ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment Divine law, from God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of disc ...

. There are several services currently available that customize the bencher using graphics, logos and/or photographs.

Common features

Bentchers, particularly those of the common Birkat Hamazon variety often share in common prayers which are said on a daily, weekly, annual, or intermittent basis, such as * Hadlakat Nerot: lighting

shabbat candles Shabbat candles () are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath. Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candle-lighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household, but every Jew is o ...

* Hadlakat Nerot of Yom Tov - Holiday eve candle lighting * Shalom Alekhem *

Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 is the 31st and final chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Verses 1 to 9 present the advice which King Lemuel's mother gave to him, about how a just king should reign. The r ...

* Birkath Habanim - Blessing the Children * Sabbath Eve

kiddush Kiddush (; ), , is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal. S ...

* Sabbath Morning kiddush * Kiddush for various occasions *

Zemirot Zemirot or Z'miros ( ''zǝmîrôt'', singular: zimrah but often called by the masculine zemer) are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Ladino during Shabbat and to some extent the Jewis ...

for

erev Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the cre ...

* Zemiroth for

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

* Zemirot for seudah shlishit * Zemirot for Melaveh Malkah * Habdala - Ending the Shabbath or Yom Tob *

at the banquet of a

brit milah The ''brit milah'' (, , ; "Covenant (religion), covenant of circumcision") or ''bris'' (, ) is Religion and circumcision, the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to t ...

* Birkat Hamazon at a

Jewish wedding A Jewish wedding is a wedding ceremony that follows Halakha, Jewish laws and Jewish culture, traditions. While wedding ceremonies vary, common features of a Jewish wedding include a ''ketubah'' (marriage contract) that is signed by two witnesse ...

banquet *

Sheva Brachot ''Sheva Brachot'' (; literally, "the seven blessings"), also known as ''birkot nissuin'' (; literally, "the wedding blessings") in ''Halakha'', are blessings that have historically been recited during the wedding of a Jewish couple. There are tw ...

: the Seven (Nuptial) Blessings * Blessings before all food * Blessings after food without bread

Common varieties

Bentchers come in a very wide variety of styles, and types, all of which are based on the

nusach Nusach can refer to: * Nusach (Jewish custom) In Judaism, Nusach (, , plural ''nusaḥim'', ) is the exact text of a prayer service; sometimes the English word "rite" is used to refer to the same thing. Nusakh means "formulate" or "wording." ...

and

minhag ''Minhag'' ( "custom", classical pl. מנהגות, modern pl. מנהגים, ''minhagim'') is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, '' Nusach'' (נוסח), refers to the traditional order and form of the pra ...

im of the community. Bentchers are generally printed in Hebrew only, Hebrew plus

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

translation, or Hebrew plus vernacular translation and Hebrew

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

for participation by those unfamiliar Hebrew. Common Bentcher
A common bentcher may contain the Birkat Hamazon prayer, the kiddush for Ereb Shabbath (Sabbath Eve - Friday night), Sabbath morning, various prayers after foods and drinks, and Sabbath table songs. Sefer HaKidush
Sefer HaKidush is a special bencher, which is often hardcover and maybe leather bound and especially decorated. This bentcher contains all of the kiddush prayers for the eves and mornings of Shabbat and

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...

and is most used by the head of the household (usually the father) or a rabbi. It is frequently given as a wedding gift to the groom. Sheba Berahoth / Sheva Brachot
A sefer Sheba Berahoth is a bentcher which is especially printed for the occasion of a wedding and/or the week after a wedding. This bentcher contains the seven blessings recited by family and friends of the bride and groom under the huppah at a Jewish wedding, and after birkat hamazon at the end of special meals in the week following the wedding. The sefer Sheva Brachot may contain special commentary on the meaning of the blessings. Shiron or Zemirot
A shiron is a bentcher with an emphasis on songs. A shiron may typically have extra selections of Sabbath table songs, as well as songs for the Holidays and weddings. A special section, perhaps at the end of the shiron may contain a table of contents introducing extra songs, such as is found in widely popular benchers in the Orthodox and ConservativeB'kol Echad USY Songster, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 2001 movements. Simchon
A simchon is a shiron which features prayers and songs specific to a

simcha ''Simcha'' ( ; , ) is a Hebrew language, Hebrew word that means "gladness", or "joy", and is often used as a given name. Uses The concept of simcha is an important one in Jewish philosophy. A popular teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 19 ...

or happy event such as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, wedding or

Brit Milah The ''brit milah'' (, , ; "Covenant (religion), covenant of circumcision") or ''bris'' (, ) is Religion and circumcision, the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to t ...

. The Card Variety
Some bentchers are made to be portable, or are made primarily for use in cafeterias and restaurants. These bentchers are printed on laminated cards that either fold in half, in thirds, or do not fold at all.

Novelties

Bentchers are often printed as souvenirs of special occasions, such as a Bar Mitzvah or wedding. A common practice in North America is to create a specially designed Jewish monogram which is composed of an artistic rendition of the celebrants' names in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

in the shape of something recognizable such as a flame, the trick being to try to make out the actual letters. Some times the names are written in micography. In North America, special "bencher pens" have a pull tab which reveals a scrolled paper containing the text of the

prayer.

References

{{reflist

External links

A Google image search
shows various Jewish Monograms, which are used on Bentchers. Jewish prayer books