Zion Wedding Vows
In talmudic times, the usual age of the bridegroom was eighteen to twenty. Girls were treated as marriageable from the beginning of their thirteenth year. A Jewish court would often compel a man to take a wife; such pressure, however, was not applied in the case of students.
Twelve months was the normal interval between the betrothal (erusin) and the marriage (nissu'in), when the bride was taken to her husband's house.." [2] Since the sixteenth century the two ceremonies of betrothal and marriage have been performed on the same day. The talmudic term shiddukhin refers to the arrangements preliminary to the legal betrothal, which has been gradually replaced by the engagement.
The performance of a wedding includes the use of a ring and a canopy (huppah), the breaking of a glass, the reading of a marriage contract (ketubbah), and the recital of the seven benedictions. The ring is said to have been introduced in the seventh century; it replaced the ancient gift of money or an article of value. It need not be of gold, and must not contain gems; it is put on the forefinger of the bride's right hand; afterwards she places it on the customary finger of the left hand.
Zion Wedding Ceremony Vows - example
MINISTER
"_____ do you take _____ to be your wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in holy matrimony? Do you promise to love her, to honor and cherish her, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, and to be to her in all things a good and faithful husband as long as you both shall live?"
GROOM
"I do."
MINISTER
"_____, do you take _____ to be your wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in holy matrimony? Do you promise to love him, to honor and cherish him, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, and to be to him in all things a good and faithful wife as long as you both shall live?"
BRIDE
"I do."
MINISTER WITH GROOM REPEATING
"I, _____, take thee, _____, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. According to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I pledge thee my faith."
MINISTER WITH BRIDE REPEATING
"I, _____, take thee, _____, to be my wedded husband. to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. According to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I pledge thee my faith."
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