From when do the groom and bride require protection?

Hello and greetings,

The bride does not require protection from the time she goes to the mikveh, but only from the time she enters the chuppah throughout the seven days of celebration.

Sources: Orchot Rabbeinu, part 3 (page רנז), since the Chazon Ish zt"l ruled that the groom requires protection only after he enters the chuppah (and in the book Derech Sichah, part 2, page תלא, it is brought in his name that this is because he can still change his mind). This is also the view of the Brisker Rav zt"l (Sefer Yismach Lev, part 1, siman רפג). It is also brought in Orchot Rabbeinu, part 1 (in the additions at the end of the book, pages נד-נה) in the name of Rav Yaakov Kanievsky zt"l. This is likewise stated in Shevet HaLevi, part 9 (siman עדר, ot 1), and in the book Peninei Nisuin (page קכא) in the name of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l.

However, some held that the groom requires protection already from the aliyah to the Torah on the Shabbat before the wedding, as the Gaon Rav Moshe Shmuel Shach zt"l held (brought in the book Minchah LeChaim, page נה. See also what is brought in She'eilat u-Teshuvot Briti Shalom, part 6, siman טו, that he heard from Rav Moshe Gross shlita in the name of Rav Moshe Shmuel Shach zt"l). See also the above-mentioned Shevet HaLevi, who wrote that he also heard that some are stringent from the time of the aliyah to the Torah, but it is clear that there is no proof from halacha, and it was not the custom in all countries. Similarly, it is brought in the book Emet LeYaakov (Even HaEzer, siman סד, note 32) in the name of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt"l, that the custom is that the groom does not go out alone in the marketplace from the Shabbat before the wedding, but with the bride this is not so; rather, she is permitted to go out alone until the time of the chuppah.

And in several books (She'eilat u-Teshuvot Shevet HaKehati, part 4, siman שטז; She'eilat u-Derashat ve-Chakrat, part 3, part Even HaEzer, siman יד; and She'eilat u-Teshuvot Briti Shalom, part 6, siman טו) they brought support for this from the words of Bikkurei Yaakov (siman תרסט, small note 3), who wrote that a groom is like a king in that week in which the marriage will take place.

In truth, however, these matters are not made clear in Bikkurei Yaakov, for there he cites the Knesset HaGedolah in the name of the Ra"a, that if there is a groom in the Torah on Simchat Torah, he can be a chatan Torah, for a groom is called a king, and Knesset HaGedolah asks how one can find a groom on a festival, since marriages are not performed on a festival. Eliyah Rabbah answers that it refers to a groom before marriage, who is also called a king. On this Bikkurei Yaakov wrote: and he did not explain from when he is called so. It is possible during that week in which the marriage will take place. End quote. It emerges that Bikkurei Yaakov is not speaking at all about the aliyah to the Torah on the Shabbat before the wedding, but about the aliyah to the Torah on Simchat Torah. And what he wrote, that he is called a groom in that week in which the marriage will take place, in simple terms means from Motzaei Shabbat before the wedding (and this is how it was understood in Halichot Shlomo, cited below).

There is one who says that this protection is necessary from Motzaei Shabbat before the wedding (Halichot Shlomo, part 1, chapter 5, note 26, in the name of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l, based on the above words of Bikkurei Yaakov; however, he added that the main protection then is to be careful when walking in places where there is some danger, such as roads and the like. But after the marriage he needs more protection, and he should be accompanied even in the street and also during the daytime).

See also in the book Shaarei Halacha u-Minhag, part Even HaEzer (page קיא), where he wrote that he heard from his father-in-law, the RY"T zt"l, that several days before the wedding (he did not say how many days) the groom should not be alone, for reasons of protection.

And there is one who holds that this protection is necessary from the eve of the chuppah onward, even if the chuppah takes place after sunset (see She'eilat u-Teshuvot Shulchan HaLevi, part 1, page ערב). And there is one who says that even those who follow this practice mean only if the chuppah takes place before sunset, for then he has on that day several laws of a groom, since it is already considered a Yom Tov for him (Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l, brought in the book Ashrei HaIsh, part Orach Chaim, part 2, chapter 42, section 29).

With blessings,

Hillel Meirs