LOVE AND MARRIAGE

in the realm of the sacred, with the goal that all our relationships become holy, bearing the blossom and fruit of life.

Rabbi Bronstein’s analysis of the Sheva Berachot makes clear that they define the ultimate meaning of the ceremony and represent the primary values of Jewish marriage. Jewish marriage is a recapitulation of creation and an anticipation of redemption. Marriage is to relationships what Shabbat is to time. The process of sanctification has ritual aspects that lead to behavioral con­sequences. Both Shabbat and marriage entail positive and negative commandments.

Traditional Jewish worship was designed around the three overarching biblical motifs of Creation, Redemption(Exodus), and Revelation(Sinai). The entire round of Jewish observance is suffused by these same three themes. For Kiddushin, the act of marriage, the rabbis of our classic period chose the theme of Creation around which to design the celebratory blessings. These are known in our tradition as the Sheva Berachot, the Seven Blessings of Praise.”

Indeed, the Sheva Berachot contain in brief compass the entire sweep of the Jewish conception of existence, from the miraculous glory of the original panoply of Creation to the sublime perfection of Creation in the Messianic Completion. Both the evocation of Paradise and the affirmation of the messianic celebration are comprised in a seven-versed poem on the theme of Creation...

Further, the purpose of Jewish existence is the partnership with God in the maintenance, the harmonization of Creation. And every good marriage is considered to be a tikkun, a“putting in order,” for each good marriage lifts existence to a state of higher harmony....

And yet, while certainly expressing an ethos of pleasure in life, the Sheva Berachot do not encourage the couple to relinquish

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