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| Praised are You, Adonai, King of the universe
that created humanity in God's image, with God's essence
God Formed humanity, and prepared for them an eternal structure.
Praised are You, Adonai Creator of humanity. |
Barukh ata Adonai eloheinu melkh haolam asher yatzar
et hadam b'tzalmo, b'tzelem dimut tavnito, v'hitkn lo mimeinu
banyan adei ad. Barukh ata adonai yotzer ha'adam. |
It is safe to say that we are now coming
to the end of wedding season. The wedding season usually extends
from June through the end of August. Though there are those, present
company included, who got married in the winter, the vast majority
of people are wed at this time of the year. The beautiful weather,
the ease of schedules all point to a time of when celebrations
are welcomed. It is simpler to get away on a honeymoon. Relatives
can make a vacation of an event hosted in a location other than
their own hometown.
I believe it is completely coincidence
that the wedding season precedes the High Holiday season. It is
accidental that at a time when we are preparing to reinvigorate
our relationship with God that we bind ourselves to another human
being. It is absolutely unintentional that the season of commitment
is preceded by a time of commitments. There are may lessons that
can be derived metaphorically from the relationship we have with
each other and the way we interact with God and vice versa.
The wedding ceremony, known to us as
the "the Huppah," has two parts. The first is Birchot Erusin,
the blessings of engagement, and Birchot Nisuim, the blessings
of betrothal. The second set of brachot is what we call the sheva
brachot, the seven blessings. It is the fourth that is the subject
of my comments today. On the holy day when two are joined as one,
we thank God for creating people the way God created. It is our
dream that God has created everyone and that those pieces fit
together to make a person whole. Coming together in marriage is
the completion of the act of creation. God creates human beings
with qualities and characteristics that draw others to them. When
the right talents match up, God has created couple. The Talmud
says that it is far more difficult for God to joined two people
together than it was for God to split the Red Sea.
The second half of the bracha is also
powerful. It states that God has created for them an institution
that lasts for eternity. There are those social scientists who
believe that marriage is an institution created by humanity in
order to perpetuate the social aspect of our being. It is our
nature says anthropologists to me monogamous, and therefore, we
have created a institution that protects that impulse. This bracha
rejects that in the belief that God created the institution of
marriage, and it is because of God's involvement in the process
of human partnership that gives it a taste of eternity.
It is true that some marriages succeed
while others fail. This bracha merely suggests that the institution
of marriage will withstand time and other challenges to its existence.
The bracha prays for the specific marriage to one in which the
partners understand the potential and work each day towards its
fulfillment. God has created the raw materials it is our task
to use that material to its fullest extent.
Copyright © 2001 Rabbi
Yohanan Stein. All rights reserved.
New Jersey Region United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism
PO Box 390; 1025 St. Georges
Ave
Linden, NJ 07036-0390
Phone: 908-925-USCJ (8725)
/ Fax: 908-486-USCJ (8725)
E-mail: njersey@uscj.org
Copyright © 2000 -
2003 New Jersey USCJ. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: July 2003
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