Let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up the memory of Jerusalem at the peak of my joy.

(Tehillim 137:6)

This verse is the source for the custom of breaking a glass at a wedding ceremony. It reminds us that our joy is not complete as long as the Beit HaMikdash has not yet been rebuilt.

Another dimension is added by the great eighteenth century scholar Rabbi Yonasan Eybshutz of Prague in his classic Ya’arot Devash (drush 14). Even if a Jew should have achieved all his heart’s desires, he writes, it is incumbent on him to remember that he is still missing the most important ingredient for success as long as he is not in Eretz Yisrael, where he can achieve the ultimate fulfillment and happiness.

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