A bridegroom is exempt from the Shema recital on the first night [of his marriage] until [the night following] the departure of the [ensuing] Sabbath, if he did not [yet] perform the act [of consummating the marriage]. It happened that Rabban Gamliel recited [the Shema] on the first night [after] he married. His students said to him: Did you not teach us, our master, that a bridegroom is exempt from the Shema recital on the first night [of his marriage]? He said to them: I will not listen to you to abrogate from myself [the acceptance of the sovereignty of] the kingdom of heaven for even one moment.