What Goes On In Jewish Commitment Services

By Raymond Fisher


Jewish commitment services are also known as commitment ceremonies and they are in place of traditional wedding ceremonies. The whole principle behind this type of ceremony is to establish that one member of this community will now be committed to the other as a wedded couple. Here is an idea of what goes on in these types of ceremonies typically some interesting practices that they do.

A very crucial part of this ceremony would be where the couple will break a glass. This is more of a symbolic act telling the story of the destruction of the Temple and where a new era is ushered where the couple will have a newer relationship with God. This also signifies that the couple will now communicate with God as one entity.

A second rite that is done in this wedding ceremony is when the bride circles the groom. This is to symbolize that the bride and groom will now be joining each other in a more symbolic meaning. This is done with the bride walking around the groom seven times while they are both holding each others rings. Their eyes are connected the whole time until the act is done.

The Eirusin is a main rite in this ceremony. It is the rite in which the bride and groom will be changing their marital statuses from single to married. This is where the bride will be given away to the groom, as per the traditional halacha. This is where the Rabbi will witness the monogamous union of a couple wherein the couple has to share a cup of wine.

After the first rite, the second main rite is the Kiddushin and the marriage proper. The first act is the giving of Kesef which is the wedding gifts or dowry in some cultures. From there, the shtar, which is the signing of marriage documents, is done with the witnesses there to see. The third is the biah or the sexual intercourse between the bride and groom for marriage consummation. However, this act is postponed and done through exchanging of wedding rings instead.

After that, a document called the ketubah is read by the Rabbi in which the Rabbi will pass it over to the bride. This is the second to the last act where the Rabbi will unite the two in holy matrimony. It is very similar to how a priest or pastor will offer prayers and passages in a normal church wedding.

The last part of this ceremony is the Nisuin wherein the public will know of the celebration of this union. Aside from signing the marriage documents, the sheva berachot will be recited. Once the last sheva berachot is recited, the public will now witness the union of this couple in the holy presence of God.

Basically, these are some practices that can be found in the commitment ceremony or wedding ceremony of Jews. The most interesting thing about these practices is that they have been around ever since the origin of Judaism. Whether one is a Jew or not, this ceremony is a beautiful one to watch because of its very interesting practices.




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