תלמוד על בראשית 2:22

There was another story of Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Elai, who was sitting and teaching his students, and a bride passed by and he said: What is this? And they said to him: A bride is passing. He said to them: My children, stand and attend to the bride, for thus we find that the Holy Blessed One attended to a bride (as it says [Genesis 2:22], “The Eternal God built the rib”). If God attended to a bride – then I, all the more so! And where do we find that the Holy Blessed One attended to a bride? As it says, “The Eternal God built the rib” – and this is what they call braiding in seaside towns: “building.” From here we learn that the Holy Blessed One prepared Eve and made her up as a bride and brought her before Adam, as it says (Genesis 2:22), “And He brought her to Adam.” Once upon a time, the Holy Blessed One acted as a companion to Adam; from that point forward, Adam had acquired a companion of his own (as it says [Genesis 2:23], “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh”). Eve was taken from [the rib of] Adam once;¹Meaning, creating a man’s mate this way happened only once. from that point forward, a person marries his fellow’s daughter.