)
Halakhically, the wedding is made up of two parts: kiddushin and nissuin. Kiddushin, when the groom gives the bride a ring, which creates a relationship between the two of them. The next step is nissuin, which includes the ĥuppa ceremony and yiĥud (see below), and permits the couple to begin their married life together.
Long ago, people generally waited a year between kiddushin and nissuin. During this year, the couple prepared for marriage. The groom, with the help of his father, built a home, arranged for the furniture, and saved up for the wedding feast; at the same time, the bride, with the help of her mother, prepared her clothing and jewelry.
However, over the course of time it was decided it was better to have the kiddushin and nissuin at the same event. Firstly, because sometimes the bride's or groom's family were forced to flee their homes during the year between the two ceremonies. This left the couple tied to each other through kiddushin, but without the ability to proceed to nissuin or to divorce (which is required after kiddushin, if there is no nissuin). Secondly, sometimes the not-quite-fully-married couple did not abide by the laws of sexual modesty in between the kiddushin and nissuin. Thirdly, when the age of marriage rose to over twenty, it was understood that nissuin should not be further delayed, as it is preferable for people to get married by the age of twenty if possible. For all these reasons, it became customary to perform kiddushin and nissuin together on the wedding day.
It should be noted that in Rabbinic Hebrew, a synonym for kiddushin is erusin. In contrast, in Modern Hebrew, people generally use the word “erusin” to refer to the engagement and the engagement party. Nevertheless, in Jewish law the term “erusin” refers to the giving of the ring.
We will now present the laws pertaining to kiddushin and nissuin. Following that, we will explain other Jewish wedding customs.
