CANOPY OF LOVE
(Hupah)

In a Jewish wedding ceremony the bride and the bridegroom are married beneath a wedding canopy. This canopy is called a ‘huppah’, sometimes spelt ‘chuppah’.

This hupah will be made out of beautifully embroidered material, usually white. Often they use a ‘tallit’ (prayer shawl) as in the photograph. This can be in different designs, gold and white being the favourite colour for weddings.

The hupah is held aloft by four men holding four posts placed at each corner supporting the canopy, this is held over the couple for the whole of the ceremony.

As in this Jewish wedding ceremony, where the couple are believers in Yeshua (Jesus) it is a representation of the long awaited Marriage Ceremony of the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom with His Bride, the church.

The hupah gives an image of the canopy of God’s sheltering wings. The Song of Soloman 2:4 describes this perfectly,

‘He brought me into His banqueting house, His banner over me is love’.

Wales & Israel united
Maureen & Dennis Chkolnilc getting married in Tiberius a town on the lake of Galilee (Israel)