In the early '70s, I was the campus rabbi of Ohio State University, in Columbus. Two of the students were getting married in Cleveland. Their family rabbi was doing the wedding, but I was invited. I got a lift with a group of students who were...
There is a lovely story in the Talmud about a Roman matron who asked a rabbi "What has your G-d been doing since Creation?" The Rabbi answered "Making marriages!" The matron said "what?!?! I can do the same!" She took her male and female slaves...
We now enter the wedding hall. The bride is in one room, with all the female guests. She is sitting on a chair that is more like a throne. After all, a bride and groom are to be seen as a queen and king. Her friends are dancing before her,with...
The groom has now placed the veil on the bride. . It is an incredibly happy time. But can we fully rejoice while there is no Temple, and the world is full of hate and violence? In most communities, ashes are now placed on the grooms head, to...
The groom is escorted to the marriage canopy. He stands under the huppah/canopy, awaiting his bride. The bride enters the area where the wedding is to be held (usually outdoors). The person performing the wedding calls out "Welcome! The bride is...
We left off at the point where the kiddushin (consecration) has taken place. The bride is now forbidden to every man in the world except the groom, but not yet permitted to him, either. The nissuin will be done now. In order to separate the two...
The couple are now married. The wedding ceremony is over. In Ashkenazic tradition, they have had their first minutes alone in the Yichud room. (Sepharadim, as I have written, do that later or even after the wedding feast has ended). The couple...
When we discuss situations in terms of halachah the situation of people marrying in non-halachic ways (such as civil marriage),, or even marrying "accidentally" (there can be several situations in which this can occur), we are faced with a...
How I wish that we lived in a world where everyone lives "happily ever after". The reality is that we are human, with all the flaws that come with that status. The Torah therefore stipulates a right and procedure of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1)....
In my last post, I spoke of the sad, but sometimes necessary, topic of divorce. A question must immediately occur to us. If we have destined mates (zivvug) how is it possible for it NOT to work?The Biblical story of the creation of Adam and Eve is...
The physical union of husband and wife is, in Judaism, not a concession, but an affirmation of life. It is an actual requirement on Shabbat. Traditions vary, but it is generally considered an obligation on Rosh Hodesh (New Moon), as well as some...
I have shown in a previous post in this series that Man and Woman were, according to our tradition, created simultaneously, in one body. The Biblical narrative of the creation of Woman is understood to mean that they were separated into two...
We have seen how Man and Woman are a physical representation of the Divine Mysteries, and their union represents a Unification of the Divine, and actually helps bring about that Unification. Can you imagine how marriages would be if everyone...
An old friend of mine, (and former employer) owns a Tefillin store in Jerusalem. When he was a child, he contracted a very invasive form of cancer. It was already stage four by the time it was diagnosed. Doctors held out little hope. There was,...
A young man named Rabbi Meir, who would later become one of the defining figures in the Talmud, went to visit the senior Sage, Rabbi Yishmael. The elder rabbi asked him "My son, what is your profession?" "I am a scribe" his young colleague...
