What is the Connection Between a Wedding and Yerushalayim?

 

Why is a wedding so joyous?  Why do the Sages say that "One who brings joy to the bride and groom is as one who rebuilt the ruins of Yerushalayim" (Berachot 6b)?

The Nesivot Shalom, the late Slonimer Rebbe ztz"l, shares an idea:

Joy is rooted in the "world of building" and through it both physical and spiritual building are successful.  Sadness is connected with the "world of destruction".

Joy has a powerful influence on the Chatan and Kalla at the opening of their marriage when they are building their home.  The intense joy of their wedding brings them into the world of building, to build a house of holiness and purity.

This is called building one of the ruins of Yerushalayim. for Yerushalayim was called "the joy of the earth" (Tehillim 48).  The Medrash (Shemot Rabba, end of Shemot) tells us that no sadness entered Yerushalayim.  There was a special place right outside Yerushalayim called the "Dome of Calculations" where people would go to make calculations — so that they should not come to sadness in Yerushalayim, "the joy of the earth," and harm its lofty level.