Tree of Life

We witness that on the ____ day of the month ________ in the year five thousand seven hundred and _______ on the Jewish calendar, corresponding to _______, the ___ day of ______ in the year two thousand and _______ on the secular calendar, the _______, _______ _______ _______, son of / daughter of / child of _______ and _______, and the _______, _______ _______ _______, son / daughter / child of _______ and _______, stood together to say these words and celebrate their wedding ceremony in ______. They said to each other in front of God and everyone: Be my friend and companion and I will work for you, honor, support, and maintain you in accordance with the custom of Jewish families. We will create peace in our home, balancing our values and traditions. We will live together according to our custom, in friendship and in love, always sharing in joy, never abandoning hope or care. We agree to take responsibility for our words and for our actions so that we may live by our values. In all times, we agree to hold on to the spirit of our friendship with respect and caring. If we have children, we agree to raise them with the customs and traditions of Judaism and with the customs of our hearts and to provide for their emotional and physical needs. We take responsibility for this marriage contract and the preservation of our true friendship, the fruit of our individuality, for we know this to be the best and choicest of all our properties beneath the whole heaven anywhere that we now possess or ever may acquire. Our lives together will grow like a Tree of Life, sheltering and sustaining us while continuing to be ever growing. There will be seasons of change, but always we will hold onto the roots of our mutual kindness. In the warmth of summer as well as in the cold of winter, we will know we love and are loved.

It is a Tree of Life to those who hold fast to it. Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace.