Rabbi Ovadia Yossef has attacked the "ignorant" manner in which the custom of breaking a glass under the chupah is often carried out during religious wedding ceremonies.
The most prominent Sephardi rabbi in the world and the spiritual leader of Shas, 89-year-old Rabbi Ovadia Yossef published his public criticism of religious wedding services in Yom Leyom, the weekly affiliated to the Sephardi Shas party.
He singled out the breaking of the glass, which is meant to remind all those present at the celebration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
He claimed that "many ignoramuses, when the glass is broken, are full of laughter and shout 'mazeltov'. They have changed this beautiful custom, which is to remind us of the sadness of the destruction of our house of holiness, into a superfluous custom of empty-headed rowdiness."
He also criticised grooms who try to stamp on the glass with force and wrote that "it has become a boastful display of strength".
"It would be better to do away with this custom altogether than to allow it to continue in this manner," he added.
He called upon rabbis to try and educate the public about the custom's correct meaning.
Rabbi Yossef is not the first rabbi to try and change the attitude towards the glass-breaking at weddings.
Some rabbis have changed the order of the wedding service so that the glass is broken at a more solemn stage of the ceremony. Others have also emphasised another old custom, putting ashes on the groom's forehead as a symbol of the Temple's destruction.
Yet other rabbis conducting weddings have asked the family and guests to pause for a moment of reflection before shouting their congratulations.