What Is "Chuppah"??

The gemara in Kiddushin often says the word חופה. What is חופה??

Pashut. A canopy with four poles that people walk towards with slow music. Children drop flowers and grandparents bravely overcome the hip replacements they recently had in order to get there during the lengthy ceremony before the loud, fast music starts. At chuppah's people keep busy by texting and checking the weather reports on their blackberry's.

Not so fast [pun intended]. There are 8 opinions as to what חופה is. See the Talmudic Encyclopedia in the entry חופה for more information. The Rambam holds that חופה is yichud. The Rogochover agrees with his Rebbi [who lived about 700 years prior...]. The Rogochover explains that חופה seals the bond between the couple because yichud is like ביאה which is an act of marriage. He wrote on his gemara page [Kiddushin 5b] next to the words חופה גומרת the following: עי' כתובות דף מ"ה ודף מ"ט וסנהדרין דף נ"ז ודף ס"ו. You see from all of these sources [I would like to quote but it is a quarter to 4 in the morning and time is short:-). I just got off the phone with a chaver who is teaching Kiddushin next year so I felt that I had to write something Kiddushin-dik...] that yichud alone renders the woman like a בעולה even if nothing happened between them.

Then he adds וביבמות דף כ"ט ע"ב ובסנהדרין פ"ט. There the gemara describes chuppah as nichninsa li-nissuin and then he writes -  ודף ק"ז ביבמות. See the gemara there that one may not make a חופה [i.e. nissuin, the second and final stage of marriage] conditional. Only kiddushin can be done with a תנאי but not חופה. 

וזה גדר נכנסה לנישואין - There doesn't have to be a מעשה ביאה. It is sufficient that she "enters" into a room alone with him. וזה דין לא חזקה של פעולה  - This is an absolute law and not an assumption that when secluded an act of ביאה was performed.  But the Rogochover adds that when it comes to the mitzva of yibum an actual  מעשה ביאה must be performed and yichud does not suffice. He cites יבמות נ"ח and a Tosefta in Ksubos as proof texts for this assertion.

[Based on the Tzafnas Paneach on Maseches Kiddushin which you will buy for yourself, please, as a favor to me and then learn it as a favor to yourself. Your quality of life will greatly improve....:-)].