Jewish marriage ceremony - Essay Example

This research will begin with the statement that marriage has different meanings for different societies. For some societies, marriage is associated with social and legal implications. Other societies attach strong cultural and religious traditions to marriage. In the Jewish society, marriage is not a mere social arrangement or a contractual engagement. It amounts to a bonding of spiritual nature, which is meant to fulfill what the Jews refer to a mitzvah, which is perceived as a highly divine dictum.

It involves complete devotion of the bride’s life to the groom and vice versa and, as Kabbalists would put it, the two souls, upon marriage, are automatically integrated into one, which exists in two different bodies. In the traditional sense, a Jewish marriage cannot be said to happen by chance in any way – it involves what people from western countries do not seem to embrace, referring to it as the old-fashioned way. As such, the first step that defines the uniqueness in Jewish marriages is referred to as matchmaking or shidduch.

The meet-up process is not spontaneous and does not rely purely on external influences; it is planned by a person who is close enough to the young man or woman seeking a partner to know the kind of person that he or she would want to be with and suggest a meeting. All of which has to go according to plan. This is an important step in an effort to ensure that the two are compatible with each other.