Kabbalah Library

648. “And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, ‘We are witnesses. The Lord makes the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah.’” It follows that we bless the seven blessings only for a virgin who is called a “bride,” as it is written, “For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

649. However, a widower and a widow, a similitude of the seven blessings is blessed for them. It is like the matter with Boaz and Ruth. Boaz and Ruth were a widower and a widow, and they blessed for her a similitude of the seven blessings, of the praise of a virgin over one who has married with blessings and gifts. This one is called a “bride,” and that one is not called a “bride,” as it is written, “For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you,” and the joy of a groom over the bride.

650. The seven similitudes of blessings that Boaz was blessed are as follows: And all the people at the gate, and the elderly are witnesses.

1. May the Lord give the next woman to your house.

2. As Rachel

3. As Leah

4. Both of whom built Israel.

5. And he succeeded as in Ephrata.

6. And he called there in Bethlehem.

7. May your house be like the house of Perez.

651. We bless “creator of the fruit of the vineyard” to the widower and the widow as to the virgin, and include that blessing in the middle. In the end, the one who blesses concludes with “who created joy and merriment, groom and bride” because of their honor, in which there are ten trustees corresponding to the ten utterances with which the world was created.

652. They are seven: Joy and merriment is one. Groom is two. Bride is three. Gladness and singing are four. Rejoicing and gaiety are five. Love and brotherhood are six, and peace and friendship are seven.

653. Rabbi Hanina interpreted each and every one: Joy is one; merriment is two; groom is three; and bride is four. Gladness is five; rejoicing is six; love is seven; and brotherhood is eight. Peace is nine; and friendship is ten. Ten, corresponding to the utterances by which the world was created.

There are five voices in this blessing, in which the Torah was given, and a virgin bride inherits all of them in the blessings, since she is worthy, while a widow is not worthy.

654. “All the people at the gate” is the great Sanhedrin, who were there, as it is written, “Who would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” And the elders who are witnesses are disciples of the wise and the leaders. They all blessed that blessing for them, since he was the leader of the generation. And who is he? Avtzan from Bethlehem.