Reciting Sheva Berachos on the Night of the Eighth Day, When the Meal Began on the Seventh Day
Question: It is quite common for the final Sheva Berachos meal to be hosted by close friends or family of the chosson and kallah. Out of joy and excitement for the simcha, the meal often extends over many hours — sometimes even continuing past nightfall. The question then arises: Once night has fallen and it is halachically the eighth day (motza’ei the seventh), may Sheva Berachos still be recited, or is it considered outside the time frame of the shivas yemei hamishteh [seven days of feasting]?
Answer: Many of the gedolei haposkim rule that if the Sheva Berachos meal began on the seventh day but extended into the night of the eighth, the Sheva Berachos must be recited only during the daytime of the seventh day. They may not be recited during bein hashmashos and certainly not once it is halachically nighttime on the eighth day.
This ruling is based on the pesak of several major achronim and poskim. R’ Akiva Eiger (Even HaEzer 62:6) and the Sha’arei Teshuvah (Orach Chaim 188:7) cite the Ginas Veradim, who writes that if a Sheva Berachos meal took place on the last day of the shivas yemei hamishteh, even if the meal ended before shki’ah but the birchas nisuin was delayed until after shki’ah, the Sheva Berachos may no longer be recited.
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l explained the distinction between this halachah and the halachah of saying Retzei in bentching after shki’ah on Shabbos:
In the case of Sheva Berachos, after shkiah, the chosson and kallah no longer halachically carry the status of chosson and kallah for this purpose, and therefore the berachos may no longer be said. However, when it comes to mentioning Shabbos in bentching, it suffices that the meal was a seudah shel Shabbos, even if the bentching is said after shkiah.
Rav Elyashiv zt”l therefore ruled that Sheva Berachos should not be recited after shkiah on the seventh day, even if that day falls on Shabbos. He also related that the Klausenberger Rebbe zt”l once invited him to the final Sheva Berachos meal for his daughter’s wedding in order to honor him with a berachah, along with Rav Dov Weiss shlit”a. Rav Elyashiv declined the invitation, explaining that he could not attend unless he was assured that the meal would end before shki’ah. The Klausenberger Rebbe zt”l responded that he would ensure it concluded in time.
This was also the pesak of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l. See also Otzar HaPoskim (Even HaEzer 62:6), which brings an extensive discussion of this issue.
