Chuppah, ketubah and the broken glass in the Jewish wedding

The traditional Jewish wedding is one of the oldest marriage ceremonies still celebrated in a recognisable form. Its main elements, the canopy, the written contract, the blessings and the broken glass, are rooted in the Bible and in rabbinic literature, and over the centuries they have been enriched with local variants in the Sephardi, Ashkenazi and Italian communities.

From betrothal to the canopy

Rabbinic tradition distinguishes two stages: kiddushin, or erusin, by which the woman is consecrated to the groom, and nissu'in, the entry into married life. In ancient times the two acts could be separated by as much as a year; in the Middle Ages it became customary to celebrate them together in a single ceremony. The central gesture of kiddushin is the giving of a plain ring, accompanied by a formula spoken by the groom before witnesses.

Nissu'in takes place under the chuppah, a canopy held up by four poles, often made from a tallit or an embroidered cloth. According to a traditional interpretation, its open sides recall the tent of Abraham, open in every direction to welcome guests. The chuppah represents the new home the couple build together. Before the ceremony, in the Ashkenazi rite, the groom covers the bride's face with the veil, in the gesture known as the bedeken.

The ketubah, an ancient contract

The ketubah is the marriage contract, traditionally written in Aramaic. Its text, already discussed in the Mishnah and the Talmud, lists the groom's obligations towards his wife and sets a sum owed to her in the event of divorce or widowhood. Originally, then, it was an instrument for the economic protection of the woman, read aloud during the ceremony and handed to her.

Over the centuries the ketubah also became a work of art. Italian Jewish communities, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, produced illuminated ketubbot of extraordinary beauty, with floral borders, coats of arms, symbolic figures and refined calligraphy. Many of these documents are now kept in libraries and museums and are a precious source for the history of families.

The seven blessings and the glass

Under the chuppah the sheva berakhot, the seven blessings, are recited, praising God the creator, recalling the joy of the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden and invoking the consolation of Jerusalem. The couple drink from the same cup of wine, a symbol of shared joy. The same blessings are repeated at the festive meals of the following days.

At the end of the ceremony the groom breaks a glass with his foot, amid cries of «mazal tov». The Talmud, in tractate Berakhot, tells that a sage, seeing the rabbis too merry at his son's wedding, broke a precious cup in front of them to bring them back to seriousness. Later the gesture was read as a memorial of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, so that mourning is not forgotten even in the greatest joy.

Every element of the Jewish wedding thus joins the private and the collective. The couple build a home under the chuppah, sign a written covenant, receive the blessings of the community and recall, with the broken glass, the history of their people. It is a rite in which love is placed within a memory that spans millennia.