Shehecheyanu

The blessing of Shehecheyanu is recited in thanks or commemoration of:

• Generally, when doing or experiencing something that occurs infrequently from which one derives pleasure or benefit.
• The beginning of a holiday, including Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simhat Torah and Hanukkah, but not holidays commemorating sad events, such as Tisha B'av.
• The first performance of certain mitzvot in a year, including sitting in a sukkah, eating matzah at the Passover Seder, reading the megillah, or lighting the candles on Hanukkah.
• Eating a new fruit for the first time since Rosh Hashanah.
• :Normally said before the blessing over the fruit, but some customarily say it afterwards.{{cite web |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/91120/jewish/Shehecheyanu.htm |title=Shehecheyanu |website=Chabad.org |access-date=24 May 2020}}
• :The fruit must be fresh, not dried.
• Seeing a friend who has not been seen in thirty days.
• Acquiring a new home or other significant possessions.
• The birth of a child.
• A pidyon haben ceremony.
• During a ritual immersion in a mikveh as part of a conversion.
• On arrival in Israel.

Some have the custom of saying it at the ceremony of the Birkat Hachama, which is recited once every 28 years in the month of Nisan/Adar II.

When several reasons apply (such as the beginning of Passover, together with the mitzvot of matzah, marror, etc.), the blessing is only said once.

It is not recited at a brit milah by Ashkenazim, since the circumcision involves pain, nor at the Counting of the Omer, since that is a task that does not give pleasure and causes sadness at the thought that the actual Omer ceremony cannot be performed because of the destruction of the Temple.{{cite book |last=Nulman |first=Macy |title=Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer |year=1993 |location=NJ |page=91}}{{cite book |last=Scherman |first=Nosson |title=The Expanded ArtScroll Siddur (Ashkenaz) |year=2010 |location=Brooklyn |publisher=Mesorah Publ'ns |page=231}} However, it is recited by Sephardim at the berith milah ceremony.{{Cite web |last1=Holtzberg |first1=Avraham Yeshaya |last2=Neubort |first2=Shimon |title=Customs of Bris Milah: Chapter 3 |url=https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/72293/jewish/Customs-of-Bris-Milah.htm |access-date=August 16, 2023 |website=Chabad.org}}

Although the most prevalent custom is to recite lazman in accordance with the usual rules of dikduk (Hebrew language grammar), some, including Chabad, have the custom to say lizman ("to [this] season"); this custom follows the ruling of the Mishnah Berurah{{cite web |title=משנה ברורה סי׳ תרע״ו ס״ק א׳ |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=60391&st=&pgnum=293&hilite= |website=hebrewbooks.org |access-date=2 April 2023}} and Aruch Hashulchan,{{cite web |title=ערוך השלחן או״ח סי׳ תרע״ו, ג׳ |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9102&st=&pgnum=442&hilite= |website=hebrewbooks.org |access-date=2 April 2023}} following Magen Avraham,{{cite web |title=מגן אברהם - הקדמה לסימן תרע״ו |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14327&st=&pgnum=419&hilite= |website=hebrewbooks.org |access-date=2 April 2023}} Mateh Moshe{{cite web |title=מטה משה, חלק חמישי, סי׳ תתק״פ |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=40439&st=&pgnum=315&hilite= |website=hebrewbooks.org |access-date=2 April 2023}} and Maharshal.{{cite book |last1=רבינוביץ |first1=שמחה בן-ציון |title=פסקי תשובות חלק שישי סימן תרע״ו אות א' |date=2021 |location=ירושלים }}

Avshalom Haviv finished his speech in court on June 10, 1947, with the Shehecheyanu blessing.{{cite news |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8869 |title=Remember Your 21st Birthday? |first=Moshe |last=Phillips |newspaper=Arutz Sheva |date=25 June 2009 |access-date=24 May 2020}}

The Israeli Declaration of Independence was publicly read in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, before the expiration of the British Mandate at midnight. After the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, read the Declaration of Independence, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon recited the Shehecheyanu blessing, and the Declaration of Independence was signed. The ceremony concluded with the singing of "Hatikvah."{{cite news |url=http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Jubilee/2.html |title=One Day that Shook the World |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=30 April 1998 |first=Elli |last=Wohlgelernter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112220409/http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Jubilee/2.html |archive-date=12 January 2012 |access-date=24 May 2020}}

There is a common{{According to whom|date=April 2023}} musical rendition of the blessing composed by Meyer Machtenberg, an Eastern European choirmaster who composed it in the United States in the 19th century.{{cite web |url=https://open.spotify.com/album/5G6QMyBiQmKQI4OXykIDiN?highlight=spotify:track:6hiADuKCE2PzYpGlPhb5xL |website=Spotify |title=Shehecheyanu (arr. M. Sobol for voice, choir and orchestra) |access-date=24 May 2020}}

• [http://www.virtualcantor.com/HAN23%20Shehecheyanu%20(1st%20night%20Channukah).mp3 MP3 file] - Shehecheyanu blessing from VirtualCantor.com (tune for the first night of Chanukah)
• [https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/shehecheyanu-digital-sheet-music/20794912 Sheet music for Shehecheyanu]

• List of Jewish prayers and blessings
• [https://www.halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Shehecheyanu Halachipedia article on Shehecheyanu]

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Category:Jewish blessings