In a perfect world, men and women would marry, live long and happy lives together, and leave this world at about the same time. There would be no need for second marriages. But we live in a world that is far from perfect. People sometimes die young, leaving behind grieving spouses with potentially long lives ahead of them. And too many marriages simply do not last and collapse into divorce. Having served as a congregational rabbi for the past forty-four years, I have seen it all: second marriages that thrive; second marriages that are doomed from the start; second marriages wrecked by children; Interestingly, the divorce rate among second marriages is higher than that among first marriagessecond marriages in which the children from both sides fuse together into a happy and cooperative unit; second marriages that collapse under financial strain, and second marriages that endure, but unhappily.
