Being married enhances every facet of a person's life. First of all, many of life's difficult problems are solved by marrying. If we stop to consider Man's situation, we perceive the kindness of the Creator in providing Adam with a wife. The advantages of matrimony are little short of a miracle. We live our lives on three separate planes: physical, emotional and spiritual. In each area, marriage has an essential contribution to make.

In the realm of our physical existence, the advantages of married life are self-evident. The most obvious problem it solves is the perpetuation of the human race. Producing a new generation of Homo sapiens is not enough to insure that the globe continue to be populated by Mankind. The human infant requires extensive, prolonged care and nurturing in order to mature, more so than any other creature on the face of the earth. For the first two decades of his life, the human needs not only food, shelter, and clothing, but also infinite attention, warmth, and love. He must be taught, educated, and trained. During this entire period of preparation for adulthood, he must be swaddled in a warm, loving environment.

The framework of a family established as a result of a love that includes the physical, emotional and ideological spheres serves best for the human child and his development. The only way to guarantee that children mature into adults who are sound in body and spirit is to raise them in a healthy family circle. There is no substitute for the ideal environment the Creator established for human childhood: loving, caring parents whose primary goal in life is to raise their children in a healthy environment. Such parents will devote their energies, talents, and resources to educating their offspring.

The second advantage of marriage is in the realm of the human sexual drive. Marriage provides the healthy release of this impulse. Once married, Man is free to concentrate on other important and rewarding matters which are the true purpose for his coming to this world. Above and beyond the physical satisfaction, marriage fills an emotional need. Man was created a social being and living alone leaves a void which should be filled by a good marriage. The family circle provides a framework for social interactions which satisfy man's need for companionship. At the same time, it strengthens the bond of love between husband and wife.

We have seen how matrimony enhances our lives on both the physical and emotional planes. Above all, however, it elevates the spirit. Man comes into this world to serve his Creator and to enjoy drawing closer to Him. To the degree that he fulfills his mission here, Man will be rewarded. The highest plane of human success is achieving this goal. However, it is not so easy. The Evil Inclination urges man to pursue the temporal pleasures of this world rather than perfecting his character by emulating his Creator. It entices us to pursue power, status, wealth, positions of influence or earthly pleasures. In other words, the Evil Inclination strives to persuade Man to serve himself rather than his Creator. If a person is not successful in overcoming these desires, he will gradually veer off the path of fulfilling the will of Heaven, and heed only the self-serving drives of his ego.

Marriage is a golden opportunity to go into training and develop the muscles to win this battle against the Evil Inclination. A husband and father is in no position to think only of himself and his own interests. The home is the training ground on which one can most easily develop concern for his fellow man. Through marriage, Man sublimates his physical urges and channels them into the service of his Maker. He has no less pleasure in life than does a self-serving person. To the contrary, his realm of pleasures expands greatly. His are not only the pleasures of his own experiences, but also of those to whom he has given. By learning to share his life with them, his happiness grows exponentially.

By marrying and raising a family, Man learns to break his habitual preoccupation with his personal concerns. Now he must assume the responsibility for the welfare of others. The more one is concerned with the needs of others, the less he will be entangled by his own self-centered drives. So, too, will his craving for status, power, and wealth diminish to the degree that he is busy providing for others. As a result, his thoughts and actions will center around others rather than himself. Herein lies the key to spiritual growth and the mutual self-fulfillment of husband and wife.