Living Torah Archives

How did newlyweds of yesteryear get their new home ready prior to marriage?

Rabbi Tzvi Abba Lerman recalls the special attention the Rebbe gave him in the early 1950s, in connection to his wedding.

Standing under the wedding canopy is an auspicious time for the groom and bride to have their prayers answered.

The Rebbe blesses several couples on their wedding days.

Reb Sholom Goldshmid was a student at 770 during the late 1940s and early 1950s. When it came time to start thinking about dating and marriage, it was the Rebbe who gave him the most important advice of all (c. 1951).

Rabbi Avraham Korf is head Shliach of the State of Florida. He recalls some of the Rebbe’s instructions to him as a young rabbinic student in Crown Heights during the 1950s waiting to go on Shlichus.

Menachem and Devorah Emanuel were married in Crown Heights in 1983. On the day of their wedding, they received an invitation from the Rebbe to hold their first Sheva Brachos at the Rebbe’s Farbrengen in 770.

At Mount Sinai, Moses and Aaron served as "marriage ushers," escorting G-d and the Jewish People to one another to unite in an eternal covenant. Chassidic teaching explains that Moses represented the "masculine" Divine force, and Aaron, the "feminine" Divine force - so from this derives the custom for a man and a woman to escort bride and groom to the Chupah.

When G-d and the Jewish People were "married" at Mount Sinai, there were two "marriage ushers": Moses and Aaron. In commemoration of this, at a Jewish wedding two ushers escort bride and groom to one another. But there is a surprising regulation that demands explanation: a pregnant woman may not serve as marriage usher.