Nevertheless, it is all too easy to allow such occasions to slip into sentimentalism and miss the importance of what is really happening.  For whilst longevity in marriage is commendable, this particular service allows a couple to reinforce their feelings for one another in  a public and joyful way.   The moment can now be shared, not only with  each other, but with everyone with whom you share your lives - your children, grandchildren and friends.  Relationships which flourished through the years are the example of our Jewish beliefs to be held in esteem and cherished by all generations.

During recent times, we have witnessed some of the greatest events of world history: conflicts which have altered the composition and political shape of the global map; the first step of man on the moon; pioneering medical advances which have all but eradicated some of the most hostile diseases known to mankind; the development of machinery and equipment that even as recently as 10 years ago would have seemed inconceivable.  However quaint or outdated it may appear, that relationship between a husband and a wife can generally do something that none of mankind's inventions can do: it can create new life out of the one component which cannot be invented or manufactured - love. Marriage is the declaration that you publicly share a common vision for the future, a vision which needs the constant impetus of creativity to handle the changes of everyday life. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health and amongst all those universal changes, one thing remains consistent, and this is what is celebrated in the love between a man and a woman.

Stand under the Chuppa once again Together