The importance of marriage in the Jewish tradition is summed up in the Talmudic statement that when one marries, one becomes a complete person. Marriage is regarded as the ideal state. In the Book of Genesis, God tells Adam that “It is not good for man to live alone.” A Jewish marriage celebrates the creation of a new Jewish family and is a step toward keeping with the first mitzvah to “be fruitful and multiply.” The mystical teachings of the Zohar says, “God is constantly creating new worlds by causing marriages to take place.” Thus, Judaism has always viewed marriage as a sacred covenant.

Your wedding day will likely be one of the most significant occasions in your life. It is a consecration, a sanctification of life itself. Indeed, the Hebrew word for marriage is kiddushin, “holiness.” It is derived from the Hebrew word kadosh, which means to be holy, separate and distinct. When you enter the bonds of kiddushin, you enter a relationship that says to you and to the world that you are now set apart from everyone else. Your lives are now inextricably bound together by a holy bond. The Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of Hassidism, said it well: “From every human being there arises a light that reaches to heaven. When two souls are destined to find each other, their streams of light flow together, and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.”