What is a tischLit. Table (Yiddish) A festive meal that combines teaching Torah and telling jokes.  At a traditional wedding, a groom’s tisch is held, during which the groom attempts to teach words of Torah while his friends interrupt with songs and jokes. Today, some brides hold a tisch as well, and some couples hold one together.? In Yiddish, tisch means table. Traditionally, a groom and his male friends would gather around a table before the wedding ceremony to eat, drink, sing, dance, and read the ketubahThe Jewish wedding contract. Traditionally, the ketubah protected the wife in marriage by spelling out the husband's obligations to her and guaranteeing her a financial settlement in case of divorce. Throughout the ages, ketubot (plural) have been illuminated and calligraphed, becoming significant as Jewish art. Today, all manner of egalitarian ketubot are written. Some dispense with the financial and legal aspects, focusing more on the emotional and spiritual sides of the relationship. Others maintain the rabbis' concern with the practical, but define mutual obligations for each spouse.. This is when the witnesses sign the ketubah, and the groom holds up an object to symbolize his acceptance of the terms.

 

In Hasidic culture, a tisch can refer to any similar occasion, usually on ShabbatShabbat is the Sabbath day, the Day of Rest, and is observed from Friday night through Saturday night. Is set aside from the rest of the week both in honor of the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. On Shabbat, many Jews observe prohibitions from various activities designated as work. Shabbat is traditionally observed with festive meals, wine, challah, prayers, the reading and studying of Torah, conjugal relations, family time, and time with friends. or on a holiday, when a group of men gathers around their rebbe.

 

A tisch is not only a wonderful tradition to include in a wedding, but it is also a way to bring joy into other holiday and life cycle occasions.

 

Click below to access three tisch song sheets compiled by Cantor Hinda Labovitz, Rabbi Talia Laster, and Eliana Light.