By: Rabbi Stephen A.Quaye, Toronto-Canada.

Glamorous and expensive weddings these days are overshadowing the real essence of marriage, the unique institution established by God to bring about joy and happiness between man and a woman.
For some people getting married is all about getting expensive clothes, cars to decorate and hoot the horns to create noise around, pay for expensive honeymoon somewhere as well as expensive food and drinks.
This is creating a big competition in our present world to the extent that much attention is being waded from the true meaning of the holy institution itself.
For many people finding a soul mate is the most difficult task of their lives. Part of the difficulty comes from trying to find the right person rather than being the right person.
So finding your soul mate is not just a matter of going on many dates or networking to make new acquaintances, to draw the soul you desire you need to become that level of soul yourself which means developing yourself spiritually.
Before talking about the Jewish Kabala teachings and doing the spiritual works the Holy Zohar describes in connecting to your soul mate, let me first touch on what the bible says about marriage.
Often times we hear many people claiming marriage was first instituted in the Garden of Eden where God took part of Adam’s ribs and created a woman called Eve for him.
That is true. But the true marriage principles and procedures to follow can be find in Genesis Chapter 24, the whole chapter talking about Isaac gotten married to Rebecca.
Abraham was old and asked his servants to go back to where he was born and look for a wife for his son Isaac. When asked should the leady refuse to come with them to her husband should Isaac be taken to that land? Abraham answered saying no. But the lord God will send his angels ahead of you to find a wife for my son Isaac.
Through prayer as the story tells us everything worked perfectly for the servants who met Rebecca by the well and followed the processes in marrying a woman for a man.
Isaac did not go searching for a woman to introduce to his parents for him. Neither did Abraham his father just got up and married any woman from anywhere for his son. Rather he prayed and God connected Isaac to Rebecca.
Rebecca after receiving the blessings of her parents to marry Isaac straightaway followed the servants who brought her to her husband Isaac who loved her so much and after the death of Sarah, it was Rebecca who comforted Isaac.
When we turn our attention to what the Holy Zohar, it also reveals the mysteries surrounding male and female aspects of the soul as well as the concept of soul mate relationships.
According to the Zohar, when a complete soul enters this physical realm, it does so through the angels which in the process of descending from the upper world, the unified soul separates into male and female halves.
Whiles the angels are responsible for bringing souls into the physical dimension; it is the Creator who reunites two halves of one soul when the time is right, for only the creator who knows for certainty who are true soul mates.
With the marital story of Isaac in the bible as we read the whole chapter Genesis 24 and what the Holy Zohar describes connecting to your soul mate, all insist on prayers for one to find a soul mate.
What do we see today? People looking for soul mates concentrate on throwing glamorous wedding ceremonies, going on many dates or networking to make new acquaintances.
By so doing, potential married couples fail to go through proper training and counseling to reap the full benefits of marriage as they suffer instead.
That is why Happy F.M. needs to be congratulated for organizing such mass wedding for this year which is all-expense paid for. Not just congratulating them for throwing the mass wedding, the team that put out the programme should be praised for roping in such a man of God like Reverend Sam Kuranchie Ankrah who has taken the couples through intensive training and counseling.
Fellow readers, looking at the number of marriages that have fallen on rocks, looking for a right soul mate is not exposing your sensitive parts to attract a partner to love you like is being shown on some Ghanaian media websites.
Finding a soul mate is not enticing a woman with luxurious stuff or seducing a man with fat bank accounts or throwing glamorous weddings meaning your marriage is going to be the best ever to witness in the world.
Rather finding a soul mate and a rightful soul mate to enjoy the full benefits of the holy matrimony means going down on your knees and pray asking God to connect your soul mate to you and the miracle will follow.
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the just wedded couple Mr. Emanuel Kofi Bekoe, an editor at Peace F.M. and Afia Serwaa Kobi Hemaa Osisiadan, my sister-in-law for going to the alter to seal their connection. I wish you all the best in your marriage.
Again let me congratulate Happy F.M. team as well as the potential married couples all the best for allowing God to show to the rest of the world the essence of joy in life through marriage.
YE MA MO AWARESO OOOOOO
HURRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY