One of the seven blessings recited at a wedding and at the subsequent celebrations is “You should rejoice, beloved friends, just as Your Creator rejoiced previosly in Gan Eden. Blessed are You, Hashem, who gladdens the groom and bride.”
Rabbi Ezriel Tauber asked why do we call the groom and bride “beloved friends.” Until this point, they were two single individuals, who may or may not have had a prior relationship. Marriage definitely adds a new degree of closeness in any relationship. If these two individuals are just beginning to truly know each other from this point on, how could it be that we already term them “ahuvim,” “beloved?”
The answer is that before these two souls were born, they were one in Gan Eden, in paradise. When a couple marries, they are joining their souls together once agagin, albeit here on Earth as opposed to in heaven. Marriage is actually a process where people “find” themselves, so to speak. They find their other half, the half of them which they were united with in a world of spirituality. Being that they at one time were united, of course now they will be the closest friends possible. The couple is once agagin sharing one neshama one soul, in a bond of endearing friendship.
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For questions, comments, and topic requests, please write to Rabbi Yehudah Prero.