Marrying on Tuesday – Ask the Rabbi
Q. Why is it considered good to get married on a Tuesday?
A. The Creation story has the constant refrain that when God saw what He had made, He said it was good. On the third day, however, He twice said it was good (Gen. 1:10, 12), and hence Tuesday is regarded as twice blessed.
The connection with marriage comes from a verse in the following chapter, where God said it was not good for a man to be alone (Gen. 2:18), and hence getting married provides a person’s missing “good”.
A different approach is recorded by the sages at the beginning of Tractate K’tubot, which states that a maiden is married on Wednesday and a widow on Thursday.
The preference for Wednesday for a previously unmarried girl is explained as linked with the tradition that the Beth Din meets on Monday and Thursday, so that if a bridegroom married on Wednesday finds a problem with his bride’s virginity he can go to the Beth Din on Thursday.
Why then not marry on Sunday so that there can be resort to the court on Monday if necessary?
The Talmud answers that a bride is entitled to a proper wedding feast, and this takes three days to prepare, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A Sunday wedding would present problems in relation to the previous Shabbat.
Later generations, however, found it possible to have Sunday weddings while still carefully observing Shabbat, and in many communities today the preference is for Saturday night or Sunday.
Another day considered auspicious for weddings is Thursday, which in the Creation story is blessed with fertility: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:22).
In some places marriages are encouraged in the first half of a month whilst the moon is increasing, as a token of growing love and blessing.
