Two competing views of Marriage

  Berachos (8a) For this let every one that is godly pray unto Thee in the time of finding. R. Hanina says: In the time of finding’ refers to [the finding of] a wife. For it is said: Whoso findeth a wife findeth a great good.

The above indicates marriage entails finding that which was lost. In other words marriage partners are preordained and the task is recovery of what was lost. This is the idea of basherte found in various places in the Talmud and is now the dominant view

This is contrasted by the gemora with the view it ascibes to Israel as opposed to Babylonia

Berachos (8a) In the West (Israel) they used to ask a man who married a wife thus: Maza or Moze? Maza , for it is written: Whoso findeth [maza] a wife findeth a great good. Moze, for it is written: And I find [moze] more bitter than death the woman.

The question is raised why ask the man only after he married  whether he got a good or bad wife? If it is preordained he needs to simply accept his lot. If not preordained he should be asked before they get married? And why was this viewed as an Israeli practise only and not Babylonian? The Chida answers that in Bavel they learned Torah prior to marriage and this protected them from a bad wife. In Israel they learned Torah only after marriage and had no protection. It is important to note that the Rambam in Shemona Perkim strongly rejects the idea of besherte

One of the commentaries in the Ein Yakov says this question was raised to remind the man that whether the marriage is good or bad is determined by constant effort

In other words in Bavel marriage involves primarily finding a lost part and thus involves only one significant event while the view in |Israel is that marriage is a life long process.