SHEVA BERAKHOT / THE SEVEN BLESSINGS These blessings, accompanying the second stage of the marriage, date back to early rabbinic times. After the blessing over wine, the remaining six benedictions move sequentially from the universal to the particular. The second praises God as Creator of all. The third speaks of His creation of man. The fourth alludes to the second chapter of Genesis in which God, seeing that the man was alone, formed “out of His very self” a partner so that they could become “a building for eternity” through their descendants. The fifth movingly speaks about the Jewish people (Zion) as a whole, renewed through this marriage of her children. The sixth prays that the bride and groom should find joy together and bring joy to God. The seventh and longest brings all of these themes together, invoking the words of the prophet Jeremiah (33:10–11) that in the future there will be heard “the sounds of joy and gladness, the sounds of bridegroom and bride.”

BREAKING THE GLASS An ancient custom, reminding us that while the Temple remains unbuilt, our joy cannot be complete. It has become a custom to preface this by reciting the verse from Psalm 137, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem,” said by the exiles in Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple.

GRACE AFTER THE WEDDING FEAST The special invocation, with its phrase “in whose dwelling place is joy,” is mentioned in the Talmud (Ketubot 8a).

דְּוַי הָסֵר וְגַם חָרוֹן Banish grief and anger: a poem written by the tenth-century linguist and poet, Dunash ben Labrat. The initial letters of the four phrases spell out his name.