The next time you attend a wedding, be sure to enhance the joy and happiness of the bride and groom by blessing them, complimenting them on how wonderful they appear and commending them on the wonderful choice they made to marry each other.

While the badeken gives the groom the opportunity to make sure that the bride is the woman he intends to marry, it is also customary to confirm that the bride wishes to marry the groom.

To learn more about how Rebecca signaled that she wanted to travel and meet the future patriarch, Isaac, read this enlightening analysis entitled “The Willing Bride” from Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald’s Torah message for Chayei Sarah 5770-2009. Out of respect for the Shabbat, please consider printing it on Friday afternoon if you plan to read it on Shabbat.