A List of the Intentions Required by a Chosson and Kallah Under the Chuppah
When standing under the chuppah, there are a number of things that a chosson and kallah need to have kavonah [intention] for:
1) To be yoitza with the birchas erusin and nissuin.
2) To have kavonah for the mitzvah of kiddushin, as we take on that mitzvos tzreechos kavonah [when fulfilling a mitzvah, one must have positive intention for the act that he is doing], and the Rambam (Hilchos Ishus 1:2) learns that kiddushin is a mitzvah in the Torah. It’s also clear from the Gemara in Kiddushin (41a) which says that by kiddushin we say מצוה בו יותר מבשלוחו – “it is better for one to perform the mitzvah himself, than it is to do it via an agent”, that kiddushin is a mitzvah. The chosson and kallah should also have kavonah to fulfill the mitzvah of peru urevu [procreation] when getting married
3) The chosson should have kavonah when giving the ring to the kallah that he is giving it to her as an acquisition, and he should also have intention to acquire the kallah when giving her the ring.
The Netei Gavriel writes: There is no need to have kavonah for all the lomdus that one learnt in yeshiva about Tosfos in Kiddushin (2b) about the mehus [essence] of kiddushin, and it is enough to simply have kavonah for the kinyan kiddushin, the acquisition of kiddushin.
4) The kallah should have intention to acquire the ring and be willing to give herself over to the chosson by accepting the ring.
5) The chosson when performing the kinyan sudar [acquisition carried out by the picking up of a cloth] on the kesubah, should have kavonah that he is obligating himself to fulfill the all the chiyuvim that Chazal require him to do.
6) The chosson and kallah should have kavonah for the kinyan nissuin and all various opinions of what exactly this is, i.e. whether it is the bedeken, standing under the chuppah canopy, yichud, eating together in a private place etc.
By Mitzvos We Normally Say, Even If One Didn’t Have Explicit Intention for the Mitzvah, Presumably His Intention Was for the Mitzvah (סתמא כיון לשמה)
Generally, when it comes to the performance of mitzvos – there is a famous Chayei Adam (Klal 68) cited in the Mishnah Berurah (60 s.k. 10) and we see this idea also in the Magen Avraham in the name of the Radvaz cited in the Sha’ar HaTziyun (589:12) that even though we say...
