torah aliyah aufruf yad

The Aufruf, A Pre-Wedding Aliyah

Either the groom or the couple is called up to the Torah for an aliyah on the Sabbath before their wedding.

It is traditional for the groom to receive an aliyah to the Torah [in which he recites blessings before and after the Torah reading] on the Shabbat prior to his wedding. In Reform, Reconstructionist, and [most] Conservative synagogues, both bride and groom are usually called to the Torah. This ceremony is called aufruf, which, in Yiddish, means “calling up.”

Are you planning a Jewish wedding? Let us help out! Sign up for Breaking the Glass, an email series that will help guide you to the wedding that’s right for you!

After reciting the blessings, the rabbi usually offers a Misheberakh blessing [said for someone who has an aliyah] for the couple.

After that, the groom (or couple), as they leave the bimah [pulpit], is showered with candy and raisins, symbolizing sweetness and fruitfulness; or nuts, because the Hebrew word for nut, egoz, has the same numerical value (17) as the Hebrew word for good (tov).

Excerpted with permission from Teaching Jewish Life Cycle: Insights and Activities (A.R.E. Publishing, Inc.)

 

Discover More

Prayer as Spiritual Practice

Ask most people about their long-term goals for prayer and they often lack even the vocabulary to venture an answer.

36 Questions for Jewish Lovers

Rabbi and marriage counselor Ari Sytner offers 36 questions for Jewish couples to achieve greater intimacy and harmony.

The Kabbalistic Secret of Kissing

What the Zohar teaches about love-making and the coming of the messiah.