The Jewish Life Cycle by Ivan G. Marcus

Author:Ivan G. Marcus [Marcus, Ivan G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780295996127
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 2015-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

A MORE INFORMAL ISRAELI “SECULAR” WEDDING

Not every wedding involves such an ornate set of rites and customs. For example, in some communities in Israel today, there may not be a procession at all. In fact, the groom dressed in a suit and the bride, in her white wedding gown, go out in a specially decorated wedding car, festooned with crepe-paper bunting, to one of several locations where they are photographed before the wedding. They then proceed to have dinner in a favorite restaurant with friends before arriving at the hall, which may be located in a remote and relatively dark and isolated part of an industrial park. The guests arrived long before and have been eating, smoking, and drinking for over an hour. A portable wedding canopy has been erected in the same room, but it goes unnoticed as the disc jockey encourages the guests to dance to his electronic fare.

When the bride and groom arrive, the disc jockey takes the microphone and introduces the Orthodox rabbi who, he announces, will now preside over “tekes ha-huppah” (the wedding ceremony). The bride and groom enter to some applause, and if there is not enough to suit the disc jockey, he may introduce them again and again until the applause overtakes the talking at the many tables at which the guests sit, talk, eat, drink, and smoke throughout the ceremony.

The only ones who are standing under or around the canopy are the couple themselves, their parents, and a few close friends. The rabbi conducts the required rites of the betrothal ceremony over a cup of wine, asks for the ring, and verifies that it is the groom’s property and that the groom recites the correct line in Hebrew, “harei at mequdeshet li be-tabba’at zo ke-dat moshe ve-yisrael.” He has brought with him his own proper witnesses to certify that the betrothal has been conducted correctly.

Five minutes into the ceremony, the rabbi reads part of the ketubbah and immediately moves on to the seven blessings, all of which he recites himself. The conclusion is a brief reference to the destruction of the Temple, and keeping in mind that even at one’s time of greatest joy one remembers the tragedy of Jerusalem in the past, and the groom smashes a wine glass wrapped in a cloth napkin underfoot. Mazel tov! Mazel tov! The disc jockey is back—perhaps ten minutes have elapsed.

Immediately, the plastic Tinkertoy-like wedding canopy is dismantled, if the photographers have not managed to knock it down in order to get a better shot of the ceremony while it is taking place. The music and dancing resume. This more or less ritually correct wedding is typical of many secular Israeli rites. The occasion is regarded mainly as a social one that must, by Israeli law, have a minimal religious ceremonial component presided over by an Orthodox rabbi.171

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