I will be married in a little more than a year. Recently I have
been to many weddings in which the marrying couple made their own chuppah
(wedding canopy). While I have been encouraged to rent a chuppah, I thought
this was very impersonal. Unfortunately, I have found little in the way of
construction instructions, and the ones I have found seemed very odd
(including a metal, three- poled version). Are there certain requirements for
construction that I should consider?
In the Bible I read about people getting married but I don't
find any description of the ceremony. I want to know why we have a wedding
ceremony like it is today and if there is any written document where I can
read about it.
A chuppah is a piece of cloth draped over four
poles. The only real "requirement" is that it be big enough for
the bride and groom to stand under and that there be room for the
bride to circle the groom.
One way to make the chuppah more personal would
be to decorate an existing one. You could cover it completely with
your own decorations to the extent that you won't even be able to
see the original one!
The Torah (Bible) is approximately 3% written
and 97% explanation, given by G-d to Moses on mount Sinai! That's
why there's so little written about the actual wedding ceremony in
the Bible. For info on the Jewish wedding ceremony, visit:
http://www.ohr.edu/judaism/articles/wedding.htm.
An excellent book on the subject is Rabbi Aryeh
Kaplan's "Made in Heaven" (Moznaim Publishers).
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