The Chuppah
Sarah Borukhhov, Hodaya Bracha Eghbali , Tamar Moskowitz, Esther Keller

A sacred time is a holy time where Hashem’s שכינה ׁis present. When a chasan and kallah are under the chuppah Hashem’s שכינה ׁcomes down. It’s a zman tefillah, a time to daven when they are under the chuppah. It’s a very special zechus to daven at this time. The day of your wedding is like Yom Kippur so by the time of your chuppah it’s like neilah, and it’s your opportunity to daven to Hashem while the gates are opened and He’s listening. All of our tefillos are supposed to get answered. Hashem’s שכינה ׁcomes down between the couple. Hashem becomes a part of the marriage. We chose the pasuk” איׁש ואׁשה זכו ׁשכינה ּביניהן לא זכו אׁש אוכלתן) “Sota 17 :1). This means that a man and women merit שכינה ׁbetween them and don’t merit destruction. When Hashem is not in a marriage there will be destruction but when Hashem is in the marriage there is שכינה. ׁWhen Hashem’s name is removed from the words שׁאי שהׁוא the word שׁא - fire. There will be fire and destruction without Hashem. Hashem’s kedusha under the chuppah brings the couple together and makes it a sacred time. Our display represents the connection between the chasan and kallah as they are being enwrapped in Hashem’s שכינה ׁduring the time of their chuppah. We made two interlocking rings surrounded by Hashem’s שכינה ׁbeing portrayed by light and our pasuk surrounding the board. We 3D printed our rings white to represent purity. The day of your wedding is like Yom Kippur which is a very holy and pure day. We made the rings interlocking showing that the chasan and kallah are coming together as one and creating a relationship with one another. We covered our board with a white velvet cloth to maintain this aspect of purity. Around the rings we put two rows of yellow LED lights to represents Hashem’s שכינה ׁin the form of a glowing light. We chose yellow to represent Hashem’s שכינה ׁglowing. Many times שכינה ׁis represented by a light so we put the lights surrounding the rings showing Hashem’s שכינה ׁsurrounding the chasan and kallah under the chuppah. Around the lights we put mirrors so the lights will reflect onto them and then onto the rings. Around the edge of our board we put gold cardstock paper with our pasuk cut out in the paper. We made our pasuk surrounding the rings as another aspect of שכינה ׁsurrounding the rings. We are showing the chasan and kalla being wrapped in שכינה ׁwhile they stand under their chuppah.