The volume presented here is the first of a two-volume compilation on marriage and the Jewish home, compiled primarily from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, together with additional insights on marriage and the Jewish home from the author, Rabbi Yosef Karasik, as well as from other sources. Rabbi Karasik, a prominent Israeli Chabad Rabbi, has also authored an acclaimed two-volume Hebrew work on the laws, customs, and spiritual insights of Shabbos.
One of the recurring themes in this volume is that marriage, according to Kabbalah and Chassidus, is primarily the merging of two halves of one soul into one. Sundered at the beginning of their lives, they are given the opportunity to reconnect and reunite through the institution of Jewish marriage, which is rightfully called Kiddushin, Sanctification. For nothing is as sacred as the merging of these souls into their original state of oneness, jointly fulfilling the Divine mission for which they were placed on this earth.
When this spiritual perspective on marriage is foremost in one’s mind, then all material matters that may encroach on the mutual happiness and compatibility of the couple pale in comparison.
While the concepts in this book are divided into separate sections according to their distinct features, the thread of the utter spirituality and sanctity of marriage runs through them all. This volume thus serves as an invaluable guide to marriage and the eternal structure of the Jewish home, “based on the foundations of Torah and mitzvos as illuminated by ‘the light of Torah,’ namely, the teachings of Chassidus.”1
May this volume hasten the coming of the ultimate wedding and marriage celebration, the marriage and supreme union of G‑d and the Jewish people. For as the Rebbe states: “The marriage of every couple … is connected to the ultimate marriage between G‑d and the Jewish people that will attain its most complete state in the Era of Redemption.”2
Sholom B. Wineberg
Overland Park, Kansas
Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 5771