Perhaps you are tired of being secluded this past year, with COVID, but sometimes seclusion can be a good thing. Listen to learn how the yichud, a time of seclusion immediately after the wedding ceremony, helps the new couple focus on what is truly important: each other.
Perhaps you are tired of being secluded this past year, with COVID, but sometimes seclusion can be a good thing. Listen to learn how the yichud, a time of seclusion immediately after the wedding ceremony, helps the new couple focus on what is truly important: each other.
Welcome to the book more Jewish weddings podcast. I'm your host Pat Blackwell. Today, our Word of the Week is yichud. After living through 2020, we may no longer think of seclusion as a good thing. But the yichud the traditional time of seclusion for the bride and groom immediately after the ceremony is indeed a good thing. Today we're going to focus on that. As a Catholic farm girl in Minnesota, I certainly never expected to ever do the Jewish party movement. But 4400 parties and 26 years later, I am indeed an expert at Jewish party. I am fiercely committed to helping the best vendors, book more parties in this amazing, lucrative and incredibly loyal Jewish party market. Let's go 2020 is truly over. If you're like me, then you're probably sick of the word seclusion, too. But in business, some seclusion is a good thing. Many people find that their best ideas come when they're in the shower, away from the noise, away from the hustle and bustle of life. When you're an entrepreneur, it's sometimes hard to know where your business stops and your personal life begins. It seems like for years, I didn't really have a personal life. I just worked and worked and worked some more. My friends knew that I worked every Saturday night. But soon I stopped planning things for Mondays or Fridays either. My life was out of balance. Every one of us has the same 24 hours in a day. How we spend those 24 hours is up to us. It's about our priorities. There's a story that's been around for a while, but it's a message just as important today as ever. The story goes something like this. The philosophy professors stood in front of his class. On the table in front of him was a large jar, and some other tubs. He took the jar, and he proceeded to fill it with two inch rocks. He turned to his class and he asked the students if the jar was full, they all agreed that jar was full. Then he took a tub of pebbles, and he slowly poured those pebbles into the jar. The pebbles filled up all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Once again, the professor asked the students if the jar was full. Once again, the students agreed that indeed the jar was full. The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand, just like the pebbles filled up all the little spaces. For the third time, the professor asked the students if the jar was full. For the third time, after a little chuckle. The students agreed that this time the jar really was full. Now the professor told the students how the jar signified your life. The rocks are the truly important things in your life. Those things change them over time. But typically they include your family and your health. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, like your business or your friends. The sand represents the small stuff. If you haven't figured it out by now, most of your life is the small stuff. The students thought about this for a moment. Then the professor took out a can of beer, and he poured it into the jar. Of course it fit. He said this just proves that no matter how full Your life is, there's always room for a beer or two, especially when surrounded by family and friends. Think about how you're spending your life. What are truly the most important things to you. Then prioritize your day accordingly. Be sure to put those big rocks in first, what is the most important thing to you? This podcast is all about the important things that Jewish celebrations at weddings and bar and Bat Mitzvahs as a vendor. How do you know what's important to your clients? Understanding the Jewish traditions helps you prioritize your day as a wedding vendor. I once had a band who just didn't understand that pictures of the hora were really important to the family. The band had the hora on their radar, but they wrongly thought that they could play just after dessert and bring everybody back on the dance floor. By then the photographer and videographer were scheduled to be done for the night. This was clearly the case of wrong priorities, putting the sand in before the pebbles. When you take the time to learn the tradition so important to your Jewish clients. You earn their trust and grow their business. The Jewish community is a tight knit group referrals are like gold. If you want to expand your business into this market, then you need to understand their traditions and their customs. You need to understand their pebbles and their rocks. I started the Jewish party Maven coaching group, so that you can learn to be the best vendor you can. Every week we meet for an hour on zoom for a group coaching session, we focus on Jewish vocabulary and customs. But we also talk about strategies and how to grow your business. If you want to learn more about my group coaching, check out my website, Jewish party maven.com. I'm going to lead you every step of the way. My Jewish clients are asking me all the time, who is the best photographer who's the best caterer? What's the best venue? They want to work with people they know like and trust. They expect want and I think deserve the best. I know you're probably thinking you don't have any money to spend on learning new skills right now. Well, these podcasts are free. My Facebook group for vendors is free. What have you got to lose? But what if you could book just two more Jewish weddings next year? Think about what you've got to gain. My phone has been ringing like crazy these past few weeks. I am so happy to be back managing parties. As a red coat lady. We love the hustle and bustle of celebrations. And we can't wait to get back to that. But we've still got a couple months before things get really crazy. What are you going to do with that time? Watch more Netflix? Or will you spend that time upping your game? learning some new skills? What are your pebbles? Come join my coaching program. It's gonna be fun. I told you that by joining me every week, you would learn one new word that you can use when you're booking your new Jewish clients. Yes, you heard me right, your new Jewish clients changing. So let's get to it. This week's podcast is one called Jewish wedding Word of the Week. Let's get started with our new word this week. yichud we will do this the Jewish party Maven way. Step one. We will say it. Step two, we will see it and step three. We will save it in your brain by using it. Like I said this week's word is yichud it's spelled y i c like Charlie ah like Harry, you d like David YICH ud, but just like many Jewish wedding words, there are a couple of Spelling's y I c CUD Y I c u d. It's all the same thing. But the most common is y I c h UD. Step one. Say it with me. yichud. Every time I do this, I think about my DJ friends who love to shout. Say it again. Louder. So say it again? Louder. yichud. Yes, you've got this. So what is yichud mean? Well, it's not the Jewish word for sneezing. Besides, you better not be sneezing during COVID ha. You could literally mean seclusion. It's the private time immediately after the ceremony where the bride and groom are secluded in a room by themselves for a few minutes. Step two. Let's see it. Now you know how to say it. I told you we would say it, see it and save it. So it's time to see it. Usually about Now have you play some visualization game. But today we're going to change it up a bit. I grew up a Catholic farm girl and my mom was always telling me to go get your food. Go get your food, your food, yichud see how that works. sounds almost the same. In the Jewish world. The couple goes immediately after the ceremony and has a whole bunch of food. I encourage them go get your food. Have you ever played those memory games where you visualize something so you can remember it later? When you hear somebody saying go get your food? You'll think about yichud. Don't worry, I've got a freebie to help you remember this week's Word and more. Check out the show notes to get my powerful cheat sheet. The Jewish party mavens 12 Jewish words the best vendors know. Now step three. Let's save it in your brain by using it. Yichud is the ritual time immediately after the ceremony where the bride and groom enjoy perhaps their first moment of privacy all day. Yichud typically last anywhere from eight to 15 minutes, but there are no firm rules about that. Eight minutes seems to be a minimum. The new couple goes into a room and enjoys a whole tray of food and their favorite drinks, I tell them to go get your food. in history, there's a whole different meaning to yichud. But in today's world, it's a wonderful time to just decompress a bit, enjoy each other in private, eat a whole bunch of food, get something to drink, and then go join your guests for the rest of cocktail hour. Now the new couple are free to hug and kiss their family and friends. Well, at least pre COVID without any food or drinks in their hands. It's a wonderful thing yichud is not just a frivolous thing. No, it's an important part of the Jewish custom teaching the new couple to define their rocks each other. Even though the venue is filled with their family and friends. The new couple spends the first few minutes of married life totally focused on each other. As a wedding vendor, this is one of those traditions that often gets misunderstood. If you are the caterer and you think you're doing the couple of favor by waiting until they've entered yichud, before you knock on the door with this tray of steaming hot appetizers, you don't understand the meaning of yichud. Don't interrupt this new couple have their food ready and waiting for them. This is not the time if you're a photographer to interrupt the new couple to say, hey, you want to go take a couple of photos. This is not the time if you're the DJ, Hey, can we confirm the grand entrance song? Do not interrupt yichud. a rabbi recently told me that this is one of his pet peeves. The vendors just don't respect the sanctity of the ceremony or the tradition so very important in the Jewish world. So I'll say it again. Do not interrupt yichud. Alright, and oh my lecture. This podcast is all about how we can help each other better serve our Jewish clients. Are there some specific words or customs that you don't understand in this Jewish party world? Send me an email or join the Jewish party Maven rockstars private Facebook group. I want to hear from you. Alright, let's get back to the Word of the Week. This week's word is yichud so review say it, yichud see it. Go get your food. I mean, enjoy your yichud save it in your brain. Leave the new couple alone for their yichud let them eat your food for 15 minutes before they join the rest of their guests for cocktail hour. Remember that Professor with the jar. Think about your priorities and what is truly important to you. Then when you're working on your next Jewish wedding, remember that yichud is reinforcing what is most important to the new couple and do not interrupt their yichud. Alright, let's wrap this up. Remember your freebie. Download the powerful cheat sheet 12 Jewish words the best vendors know. Click the link in the show notes or go to Jewish party maven.com. If you'd like to learn more, follow me on Facebook or Insta at Jewish party Maven. Sorry, in those show notes, go to Jewish party maven.com slash six. This is Episode Six. I really appreciate your thoughts and feedback about the show. I'm learning lots about how this podcasting world works. And I've learned that reviews are like gold, just like in the party world. So all of you rockstars leave me a review. Join me next week and you'll be one word closer to booking your next Jewish party. Chiching Thanks for listening. See yo next week