Nesuin is the formal marriage ceremony. The ceremony’s name is derived from “nasoh,” to  accompany, and referred to the brides as she was escorted to the groom’s home.

Nowhere does the Jewish admiration of marriage come through as strongly as it does in the nesuin. Five of the seven marital blessings, sheva berachot, speak of creation. Each marriage is seen as the beginning of a new world. The children who will be born figure into this thought, but each couple renews the world as they radiate with the light of committed loving to the world.

Another reference to the new world created by the newlyweds is the seven blessings which recall the Torah’s seven days of creation. Seven is a particular significant number in Judaism. Shabbat is on the seventh day. Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, is in the seventh Biblical month. There is a biblical command to let the land lay unplanted every seventh year.

Some Sephardic Jews cover the bride and groom with a tallit during the sheva berachot..