kiddushin – Parsha Ponders

The wedding canopy of Mount Sinai[1]

…ברוך אתה יקוק מקדש עמו ישראל על ידי חופה וקידושין
…Blessed are You, Hashem, Who sanctifies His nation of Israel, through Chuppah and Kiddushin[2]

The blessing recited at every Jewish wedding, known as birkas erusin, ends with the idea that Hashem sanctifies His nation, through “Chuppah”, the wedding canopy, and “Kiddushin”, betrothal. How did Hashem sanctify us with Chuppah and Kiddushin? We could simply say that He sanctified us with the mitzvah of marriage through the process of Kiddushin, which is unique to Jews. However, some say[3] that this is a reference to Mattan Torah, the National Revelation at Sinai, where we received the Torah. The verse says that תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהילת יעקב, Moshe commanded us the Torah, an inheritance of the congregation of Yaakov[4]. Our Sages read[5] the word מורשה, inheritance, homiletically to be מאורסה, betrothed. Meaning, the Sinaitic experience was one of a marriage between the Jewish people and Hashem.

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Significant jewelry[1]

ויקח האיש נזם זהב בקע משקלו ושני צמידים על ידיה עשרה זהב משקלם
…the man took a golden nose ring, the weight of a beka, and two bracelets for[2] her arms, the weight of ten golden shekels[3] [4]

Avraham sent his trusted servant Eliezer[5] to find a wife for his son Yitzchak. When Eliezer decided that Rivka was the appropriate match for Yitzchak, he gave her several presents[6]. Rashi points out[7] that these gifts weren’t arbitrary; they contained subtle hints to future events. The first gift he gave was a golden nose ring, which was the weight of a beka. A beka is the weight of the half-shekel coin that the Jews gave in the wilderness[8]. Eliezer also gave her two bracelets, צמידים in Hebrew. This is a hint to the two tablets which contained the Ten Commandments, which are described as מצומדות, a pair[9]. They also weighed ten golden shekels, an allusion to the Ten Commandments themselves.

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