What blessings does one recite [at a wedding]? Rav Yehuda said: [that these are the blessings]: Blessed are You, Hashem our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has created everything for Your glory. And then: Blessed are You... shaper of humanity. And then: Blessed are You…who has shaped humanity in Your image, patterned after Your image and likeness, and enabled them to perpetuate this image out of their own being. Blessed are You, Hashem, shaper of humanity. And then: May the barren one exult and be glad as her children are joyfully gathered to her.Blessed are You, Hashem, Who gladdens Zion with her children. And then: Grant great joy to these loving companions, as You once gladdened Your creations in the Garden of Eden. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who gladdens the bridegroom and bride. And then: Blessed are You, Hashem our God, Ruler of the universe, who created joy and gladness, groom and bride, merriment, song, dance and delight, love and harmony, peace and companionship. Hashem, our God, may there soon be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the rapturous voices of the wedded from their bridal chambers, and of young people feasting and singing. Blessed are You, Hashem, who gladdens the bridegroom together with the bride.
(Rachel Adler's translation)
Questions:
-What is the effect of analogizing the couple at the time of their nuptials to Adam and Eve, the prototypical yet flawed human couple?
-Why is God's role as creator so prominent in these blessings? What does that suggest to us about the partnership being formed under the chuppah?
אָמַר קְרָא סֵפֶר כְּרִיתֻת סֵפֶר כּוֹרְתָהּ וְאֵין דָּבָר אַחֵר כּוֹרְתָהּ וְרַבָּנַן הַאי כְּרִיתֻת מַאי עָבְדִי לֵיהּ מִיבְּעֵי לֵיהּ לְדָבָר הַכּוֹרֵת בֵּינוֹ לְבֵינָהּ כִּדְתַנְיָא הֲרֵי זֶה גִּיטֵּיךְ עַל מְנָת שֶׁלֹּא תִּשְׁתִּי יַיִן עַל מְנָת שֶׁלֹּא תֵּלְכִי לְבֵית אָבִיךְ לְעוֹלָם אֵין זֶה כְּרִיתוּת כָּל שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם הֲרֵי זֶה כְּרִיתוּת...וְרַבָּנַן כָּרֵת כְּרִיתֻת לָא מַשְׁמַע לְהוּ חֲדָא מֵחֲדָא
Scripture states states: “A bill of severance,” (Deut. 24:1) - So a written thing, severs her [from her husband], and nothing else severs her. How do the Rabbis understand "severance"? They use it to teach that a get must be a matter that entirely severs him from her. This is as it is taught in a baraita (Tosefta, Gittin 5:12): [One who says:] This is your bill of divorce on the condition that you will not ever drink wine, or: On the condition that you will never go to your father’s house, that is not an act of severance! If he restricts her for thirty days, that is an act of severance. For the Rabbis, there is no difference between karet (being cut off completely, literally cut) and keritut (severance).
Questions:
-Why is it so important to the Rabbis that divorce entail a complete separation?
-Why is the term used for this separation etymologically related both to the Biblical term for being spiritually cut off from Israel and for physical cutting?
[Sheva Berakhot] associates the new marriage with the covenantal reconciliation of God and Israel and depicts it as a new Eden for "loving companions" to inhabit... [The liturgy] locates us in the redemptive future of the collective Israel. A mosaic of prophetic allusions celebrate Zion's reconciliation with her divine husband and the restoration of her exiled children. At this festive event, Zion is at once the covenant bride, the barren wife made fruitful, and the mother reunited with her lost children.