Breaking dishes (was: dance of death)

[Robert A. Rothstein <rar...>]

SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net wrote:

>  This is the traditional gesture that clinches
> the ceremony of writing the Conditions of Engagement Contract
> ("Tenaim").  It mirrors the breaking of an item made of glass at the close
> of the wedding ceremony.  The explanations given for this act are various
> and sundry, and are probably ultimately related to universal gestures of
> superstition and good luck.

    One explanation, supposedly going back to the Vilna Gaon, is that an
earthenware plate, broken at the _tnoim_, cannot be put back together, while
the glass broken at the wedding, can [?].  Thus it is better to get divorced
after the wedding than to break the obligation of the engagement contract
(Abraham Hirshovitz, _Seyfer minhagey yeshurun -- Yidishe minhogim_, 3rd. ed.,
Vilna, 1914, p. 161).

Bob Rothstein

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+