Full Text
Voice of the Bride
R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Blessed are You, HaShem, our G‑d, King of the universe, Who created joy and gladness, groom and bride, mirth, glad song, pleasure, delight, love, brotherhood, peace, and companionship. HaShem, our G‑d, let there soon be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the grooms’ jubilance from their canopies and of youths from their song-filled feasts. Blessed are You, HaShem Who gladdens the groom with the bride.
This is, the last of the seven marriage blessings (sheva brochot), the special prayers recited under the wedding canopy and at each of the seven celebratory meals in the week following. The language of its bolded lines is curious for several reasons:
1. Why is the closing line[6] of this blessing only subtly different from the one that precedes it?[7] The sixth6,[8] sheva brocha ends with the prayer, “Blessed are You…who gladdens the groom and bride,” while the seventh6 ends with, “…who gladdens the groom with the bride?”
The difference between them must be significant enough to warrant both blessings. Otherwise, one of the prayers would be redundant and its recitation would violate the prohibition of taking G‑d’s name in vain.
2. Why is the blessing stated with such urgency: “…let there soon be heard…the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride?”
3. What is the connection between the raised voices of groom and bride and their joy at coming together?
4. Why is the blessing stated in the future tense, as if only then will their voices be heard, but not now in the present?
5. Why is the prayer careful to explicitly mention the word voice both in relation to the groom and in relation to the bride: “Let there soon be heard…the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride,” when it could more simply have said, “…the voice of the groom and bride.”
The answer to these questions draws its illumination from the body of kabbalistic teachings called the Diminishment of the Moon, a collection of mystical writings that elucidate the mystery of gender.
The sixth sheva brocha, which ends with the phrase, “…who rejoices the groom and the bride” describes the relationship of male and female in our present, fallen and exiled state. The seventh blessing which reads, “…who rejoices the groom with the bride” applies to the future and presents the ideal and perfected endpoint of the collective marriage between men and women as cosmic archetypes evolving through time. The blessing describes a two step process of realizing its vision.[9] The first shifting of relationship is described by the phrase, “then will be heard…the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.” Only once both voices are heard can the last phase of history begin where “the groom now rejoices with the bride.” Since at present the voices of bride and groom are not both heard, the reality of the sixth blessing applies instead, and a lower state of joy binds the groom and the bride.”
The difference between these two blessings and the three-step sequence of relationship they describe is known to all versed in kaballa. In the future era described by the seventh blessing when “the groom rejoices with the bride,” their polarity of giving and receiving will invert. While generally the male bestows and the female receives, then the awakening of joy will originate with the bride and only afterwards spread to the groom.
Conversely, in the sixth blessing, which describes our present, fallen state by the phrase, “…who rejoices the groom and the bride,” the situation is reversed, and the arousal moves from groom to bride. Since the kindling of joy starts with him, the verse describes the sequence of joy as starting with the groom and afterwards the bride.
