Question: Closely related to the previous discussion, a fundamental question is often asked: From when do we begin counting the shivas yemei hamishteh? Is the count from the start of the meal following the chuppah, or from the time of the chuppah itself?
Answer: The Teshuvos HaRosh (klal 26, siman 2), cited by the Rema (Even HaEzer 62:6), writes that the counting of the seven days begins immediately after the Sheva Berachos recited under the chuppah. The Chelkas Mechokeik (s.k. 7) explains that the Rema, citing the Rosh, is coming to exclude the notion that the seven days begin with the first meal — rather, they begin as soon as the Sheva Berachos are completed under the chuppah. See also the sefer HaMakneh (Even HaEzer 61:5). This view is also followed by the Aruch HaShulchan (62:31) and the Kaf HaChaim (131:69), unlike the opinion of the Teshuvos Knesses Yechezkel, cited in Pischei Teshuvah (12), who holds that the count begins only after the conclusion of the first meal, not from the chuppah. This was also the ruling of the Igros Moshe zt”l, as brought in Teshuvos Divrei Chachamim.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting what is written in the sefer Sova Semachos by Rav Seraya Dublitzky zt”l (1:14), who states that even though the halachah does not follow the Knesses Yechezkel with respect to Sheva Berachos, it is still proper that regarding the other halachos of a chosson, such as refraining from melachah [work] or going out alone — to be stringent in accordance with his view, and to count the seven days starting from the night following the chuppah. This view is also echoed in Shu”t Yabi’a Omer, Even HaEzer Vol. 5, siman 7.
However, in the sefer Imrei Ya’akov (Even HaEzer 64, Likkutim 2), he writes that although there are poskim cited in Otzar HaPoskim (62:2) who rule stringently to avoid melachah for seven days starting from that night, nonetheless, halachically, one need not be strict. Since the essence of the chuppah is the act of seclusion (yichud) or the placing under the canopy — as explained by the Chazon Ish (Even HaEzer 63:17) and also by the Taz — even though there are dissenting opinions, given that the prohibition of melachah for a chosson is derabbanan, one may rely on the more lenient position. It seems that this is indeed the common practice — that the issur melachah follows the chuppah and not later at night.
