the marriage-feast was enlivened by the guests, who sang various songs and asked each other amusing rid- dles (Berachoth, 31 a; Nedarim, 51 a), parched corn was distributed among the guests if the bride was a virgin (Keth. ii), and when the meal was concluded with cus- tomary prayer of thanksgiving, the bridegroom supple- mented it with pronoimcing over a cup of wine the seven nuptial benedictions (ni3"i3 S'HC) in the presence of at least ten persons (Kefhuboth, 7 b), which gave the last religious consecration to the marriage-covenant, and which are as follows : i. " Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast created everything for thy glory." ii. " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast created man." iii. "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the uni- verse, who hast created man in thine image, in the im- age of the likeness of thy own form, and hast prepared for him, in himself, a building for the perpetuity of the species. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the creator of man." iv. " The barren woman shall rejoice exceedingly, and shout for joy when her children are gathered around her in delight. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who rejoicest Zion in her children." v. ''Make this loving pair to rejoice exceedingh', as thou hast made thy creature re- joice in the Garden of Eden m the beginning. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who rejoicest the bridegroom and the bride." vi. " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast ordained joy and gladness, bride and bridegroom, delight and song, pleasure and intimacy, love and friendship, peace and concord ; speed- ily, O Lord our God, let there be heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of jubilant britle- grooms under their canopies, and of the young men at the nuptial feast playing music. Blessed art thou, O Lord oiu- God, who makest the bridegroom rejoice with his bride." vii. "IJemove all suffering and anger; then will the dumb be heard in song ; lead us in the paths of righteousness, listen to the benedictions of the children of Jeshurun ! With the permission of our seniors and rabbins, and my masters, let us bless our God in whose dwelling is joy, and of whose bounties we have par- taken !" to which the guests respond, " Blessed be our God, in whose dwelling is joy, of whose bounties we have partaken, and by whose goodness we live ;" and he then answers, " Then let us bless our God, in whose dwelling is joy, of -whose bounties we have partaken, and by whose goodness we live" (Kethiiboth, 7 b. 8). The married couple were then conducted to an elabo- rately-ornamented nuptial chamber (llSin, where the bridal couch (thalainus) was carefully prepared ; and at the production of the linteum virginitatis the following morning (Deut. xxii, 13-21), which was anxiously awaited, the following benediction was pronounced by the bridegroom : " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast placetl a nut in ])aradise, the rose of the valleys — a stranger must not rule over this sealed fountain; this is why the hind of love has preserved the holy seed in purity, and has not broken the compact. Blessed art thou. O Lord, who hast cho- sen Abraham and his seed after him !" (see Ilalachoth Gedoloth, ed. Vienna, 51 [comp. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xv, 24], where an explanation will be found of the use of fl^X^ nut, in this connection). Festivities continued for sev- en days (Kethuboth, 7 a).
As important religious questions had to be put to the bridal pair wliich required a learned man to do (Gittin, 6 ; Kiddushi)!, 0, 13), it was afterwards resolved that the marriage-ceremony should be performed by a rabbi, and it is celebrated in the following manner : A beauti- fully-embroidered silk or velvet canopy, about three or four yards square, supported Ijy foiu- long poles, is held by four men out of doors on tlic day of the wedding. Under this chupah (11310), which represents the an- cient bridal chamber, the bridegroom is led by his male
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friends, preceded by a band of music, and welcomed by the joyous spectators with the exclamation. Blessed is he who is now come! (i<2il "l^a) ; the bride, with her face veiled Qniptix?), is then brought to him by her female friends and led three times round the bridegroom, in accordance, as they say, with the remark of Jeremiah, " The woman shall compass the man" (xxxi, 22), when he takes her round once amid the congratulations of the bystanders, and then places her at his right hand (Psa. xlv, 10), both standing with their faces to the south and their backs to the north. The rabbi then covers the bridal pair with the Talith, or fringed wrapper, which the bridegroom has on (comp. Ruth iii, I'J; Ezek. xvi, 8), joins their hands together, and pronounces over a cup of wine the benediction of affiance ("pOTIX n312), which is as follows : " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast created the fruit of the vine. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast sanctified us with thy command- ments, and hast forbidden to us consanguinity, and hast prohibited us the betrothed, but hast permitted us those whom we take by marriage and betrothal. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast sanctified thy people Israel by betrothal and marriage" (^Kethuhoth, 7 a). Whereupon the bridegroom and bride taste of the cup of blessing, and the former produces a plain gold ring, and, in the presence of all the party, puts it on the bride's finger, saying, " Behold, thou art consecrated unto me with this ring according to the rites of Moses and Israel !'' The rabbi then reads aloud, in the presence of appointed wit- nesses, the Kethubah, or the marriage-settlement, which is Avritten in Syro-Chaldaic, and concludes bj' pronounc- ing over another cup of wine the seven benedictions (m3"in >'3'U), which the bridegroom in ancient times, before the ceremony of marriage became a public act and was delegated to the spiritual head, used to pro- nounce himself at the end of the meal. The bridegroom and bride taste again of this cup of blessing, and when the glass is emptied it is put on the ground, and the bridegroom breaks it with his foot, as a symbol to re- mind them in the midst of their joys that just as this glass is destroyed, so Jerusalem is destroyed and trod- den down under the foot of the Gentiles. With this the ceremony is concluded, amid the shouts. May you he happy! (ilZJ h^^Q). See Wedding.