The Seven-Faceted Blessing (Hebrew: ברכה אחת מעין שבע, berakha aḥat me‘en sheva‘), also known as Magen Avot (Hebrew: מגן אבות),[1] is a blessing recited in the Jewish liturgy of Friday evenings.
[4] The text of the Seven-Faceted Blessing (in accordance with the Ashkenazic version—other traditions have very similar versions) can be found in Seder Avodat Yisra’el on pp. 190–191.
[6] In medieval Europe, it was fairly common for congregations to insert special poems, called Magen Avot piyyutim, into the middle of this blessing;[7] while this is less common today, some Western Ashkenazic communities (such as Khal Adath Jeshurun) recite such a piyyut when the second night of Shavuot falls on the Sabbath.
[8] The reason that the Sages of Israel enacted that the seven blessings of the prayer be abridged and recited aloud by the precentor (Heb.
[9][10][11] The Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 8:1) brings down a different explanation, saying that, in Babylonia, the abridged prayer was enacted to be said in the synagogues for guests on the night of the Sabbath, only in such places where wine was not available to them.