Wedding Customs

What is the reason that a Bride circles the Groom seven times under the Chupah?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

There are many reasons cited for this custom.

Here is a listing from various sources:

1. To recall the 7 times the word “Kol” (the voice of G-d) appears in Tehillim 29

2. To represent that 7 heavens in which G-d reigns.

3. To remember that the Jewish people circled the walls Jericho 7 times symbolizing that a bride creates a spiritual wall around her husband.

4. There are 7 names for the yetzer hara and by circling the groom 7 times the bride weakens a man’s yetzer hara.

5. That the 7 female prophets (Sara, Miriam, Devora, Chana, Avigail, Chulda, and Esther) and the 7 shepherds of Israel (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, Moshe, Aharon) protect the new couple.

It is worth noting that there also exists a custom for the bride to encircle the groom 3 times which is said to represent the three times the words “I will betroth you,” are found in Hosheia (2:21–22).