Why does jewish groom break glass

With celebration comes commemoration. So once the less beautiful times have been remembered, the time comes for the groom to break the glass. Why is this done? Great question. There are many reasons that Jewish grooms break a glass at the end of their ceremony, sealing the marriage to their Bride.

The first being, in keeping with the song that had just been sung, to commemorate the destruction faced by Jewish people over the past two thousand years, a nod to the suffering that had come before. The loud glass smashing noise is said to scare away evil. The breaking of the glass is symbolic of the couple's breaking with their past lives so that they can create a new family together.

These days, it isn't just the groom breaking the glass. Often the brides will break their own, or same-sex couples will each break a glass, and the glass shards come together in a beautiful smash glass gift. Or you can break one together - but be careful not to step on each other's feet! One interpretation is that the marriage will last as long as the glass is broken—forever.

Other more superstitious say a loud noise is thought to drive away evil spirits. Another reason given was that this is a reminder that although the couple came together as a single union, the world as a whole is broken and needs mending. Some have said that it is a reminder that even in times of great joy that there is sadness. That life will bring sadness as well as joy. Most however do seem to agree that the Jewish Wedding and the breaking of the glass is a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

By the Middle Ages, synagogue facades in Germany were inlaid with a special stone for the express purpose of smashing a glass at the end of weddings. Either way, the lesson is that even at the height of personal joy, we recall the pain and losses suffered by the Jewish people and remember a world in need of healing. The fragility of glass suggests the frailty of human relationships.

Loud noises are a time-honored method for frightening and appeasing demons that are attracted to beautiful and fortunate people, such as the happy couple beneath the huppah also commonly spelled chuppah. Marriage is a covenant , which in Judaism is made by breaking or cutting something.

Breaking the glass also has sexual connotations, as it prefigures the release of sexual union, which is not only permitted to married couples but also required of them. For centuries breaking the glass implicitly symbolized breaking the hymen, which is why it was so important that the groom succeed.