The New Jewish Wedding, Revised

Introduction

There is no such thing as a "generic" Jewish wedding -- no matter what the rabbi tells you, no matter what your mother tells you, no matter what the caterer tells you.

The rabbis who codified Jewish law, halakhah, made it so easy for couples to marry that the minimal requirements for carrying out a kosher Jewish wedding can be summed up in a few words: the bride accepts an object worth more than a dime from the groom, the groom recites a ritual formula of acquisition and consecration, and these two actions must be witnessed. That constitutes a Jewish wedding; the rest of the traditions associated with Jewish weddings -- the canopy, the seven wedding blessings, the breaking of a glass, even the presence of a rabbi -- are customs. Custom -- in Hebrew, minhag -- changes over time and differs from one nation to the next. Some Jewish wedding customs have been discarded and forgotten, and some persist with even greater symbolic and emotional power than the religious prescriptions.

Customs change to meet the needs and express the concerns of people in different eras and situations. Over ... read full excerpt from The New Jewish Wedding, Revised ebook