It’s time for Ask Wedding Experience, where we answer (or do our best to answer) your most pressing wedding-related questions, no matter how weird OR common they might be. Today, we focus on a question that deals with one of the more unique wedding traditions of a cultural sort. That question is, why do you break a glass at a Jewish wedding? The Wedding Experience team takes its best shot at giving you the answer below.
Why do you break a glass at a Jewish wedding anyway?
Unlike many wedding traditions, this classic Jewish wedding tradition actually has a much more somber background story. When people break a glass, they are actually symbolizing the destruction of the great temple of Jerusalem over two thousand years ago. However, the practice also has an additional symbolic meaning. Jewish tradition teaches that it is also a shattering of the soul. Now, while that sounds scary, it actually has a more romantic meaning. Jewish tradition teaches that each husband and wife are half souls, born apart but eventually meant to join. By breaking the glass, the husband and wife are representing the coupling of their souls through marriage. So, even though the fall of Jerusalem is the basis for this tradition, the second interpretation adds some romance to the procedure too. This is why the breaking of the glass is found by a joyous cheer of “Mazel Tov”! The wedding guests are celebrating the symbolic breaking of old souls for the joining of the new combined soul.
Interested in learning more about the tradition? Take a look at this helpful article from Chabad, which goes into even more depth.
Have some other questions about weddings? Why do wedding RSVPs have an M, for example? Check out our other Ask Wedding Experience features for your answers!
