[HANASHIR:15840] Re: wedding

[Jennifer Stevens <jstevens...>]

Andrew,

There are many explanations to the glass ranging from "may your marriage
last as long as it takes to make this glass whole" to rememberance of the
destruction of the Temple, but I don't believe there is a definitive
explanation.  Here's some explanation for the chuppah though:

The chuppah (or huppah) is the traditional wedding canopy under which the
public wedding ceremony takes place. The canopy symbolizes the new home the
bride and groom will create together. It also is supposed to remind us of
the tents of biblical Abraham. We learn from the Torah that Abraham's tents
were always open on all sides to welcome visitors. So too is the chuppah
open on all sides.

A chuppah can be made from a variety of materials. Often couples will choose
to use a large tallit (tallis), the Jewish prayer shawl, for their chuppah.
For our chuppah, we knew we wanted to use the rainbow pattern tallit (a.k.a.
Joseph's Coat, 13 Colors, P'nei Or, etc.) mostly because we think it is a
pretty pattern. Much to our delight, one of our friends owns this tallit and
let us borrow it for our wedding.

Mazal tov!
Jennifer
----- Original Message -----
From: "amm" <amm (at) uic(dot)edu>
To: <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 9:41 AM
Subject: [HANASHIR:15825] wedding


> Hello everyone
> My youngest daughter is getting married this weekend, and her
husband-to-be
> (who is not Jewish) has asked several questions about the wedding
traditions.
> I repeatedly forgot to ask our rabbi at home, and now we're in Florida for
the
> wedding.  So I need some last minute help. I think I know the answers but
I
> want to be sure: What is the significance and the origin of the chupah and
the
> breaking of the glass? Please respond to amm (at) uic(dot)edu(dot) Thanks for 
> your
help.
> Andrew Morgan
>
>
>

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