There is a universal Jewish custom that the chosson breaks a glass under the chuppah. The conventional reason is that this is zecher l’churban – a commemoration of destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh. Anytime we celebrate a simcha, we must remember the Churban haBayis, and that no simcha is complete while the Beis HaMikdosh and Yerushalayim remain desolate. Therefore, the chosson breaks the glass, “zecher l’churban.”
One of the Geonim offers a different reason for breaking a glass under the chuppah: It is to remind us that Moshe Rabbeinu broke the luchos [tablets].
At first glance, this does not seem to make any sense. Why is it that a chosson or kallah under their chuppah need to remember that Moshe broke the luchos? What message is contained in that historical event that must be commemorated at every Jewish wedding?
R’ Frand explains: It is because the breaking of the luchos, and more specifically, the strength it took for Moshe to take that action, represents one of the great keys for success in any marriage.
At the end of the Torah, when the Ribbono Shel Olam records the hesped [epitaph] of Moshe Rabbeinu, He writes, “And by all the strong hand and awesome power that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Yisrael” (Devorim 34:12). Here the Ribbono Shel Olam is giving Moshe’s hesped. What were his greatest accomplishments? Rashi elaborates on the points mentioned, one by one:
“And by all the strong hand”: For he received with his hands the Torah engraved on the luchos.
