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Guests: Large or
Small Affair?
A Conservative
Perspective by Rivka
C. Berman
How many should be invited to a wedding celebration?
Wedding guests range in number from an intimate gathering of twenty to an intimate gathering of every single person the couple ever greeted with a hello.
In any event, at least ten adults males must be present during the ceremony, to form the minyan,
the quorum. A minyan of adults, became a requirement at
wedding ceremonies in the eighth century because a quorum of ten or more brings
a solemn dignity to the ceremony.
A wedding celebrated with fewer people is still
valid, just as a minyan-less weddings were in Talmudic times.
A beautiful custom in Jewish history, a custom still
practiced in some circles in Israel and chassidic communities around the world,
was to prepare a table for "unexpected guests." A table flowing with food
and drink is readied for the poor and hungry who often relied on these gestures
for their one hot meal of the week.
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