A beautiful Jewish Wedding

Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, ‘I will work for you seven years… So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him a few days because of his love for her.

Genesis 29:18-20

As some of you may remember, early this year I had the opportunity to visit a local Mosque, it was a wonderful experience and I was compelled to write about it here.

Not long after that a very ornately addressed envelope dropped through my letterbox which gave me the opportunity to experience yet another wonderful cultural experience! The envelope was so beautifully presented I thought my Damehood had finally come through from the palace! Having carefully opened the envelope with a knife I pulled out several documents, one of which was the most elaborate wedding invitations I’ve ever seen, honestly, it’s was beautiful. The invitation was to the wedding of a long-standing friend who just happens to be Jewish. The text on one side of the invitation was in English, the other in Hebrew and suggested Mr & Mrs Bernstein would be delighted if I could join them under the Chuppah to celebrate the wedding of their beautiful daughter Hannah.

The invite was to the ceremony plus the reception later in a swanky hotel, at the bottom it said Black Tie Welcome which I read as perfect excuse to go and buy a lovely new dress. The Wedding took place a couple of weeks ago and having only been to the evening reception of a Jewish wedding before, I was super excited if not a little nervous. Resplendent in my new Marc Jacobs dress I jumped on the tube and arrived at the Finchley Reform Synagogue. Now, having run the invitation past one of our Jewish doctors, just in case I was missing something on the Hebrew side of the invite, I was confident that the service would be a little less formal that that of an Orthodox ceremony, however, I really didn’t know what to expect.

I needn’t have worried, apparently there were many now Jewish people at the wedding and I could not have been welcomed more warmly and I was given a program that walked through the proceedings! One of the first things I noted that unlike a Christian wedding, we were introduced to the couple prior to the ceremony albeit separately, I kind a liked that as it gave me the opportunity to wish Hannah luck over the rest of the day. The other thing at this point was they signed what I thought was the wedding register but in actual fact was a formal wedding contract called a Ketubah. After the Ketubah signing, which incidentally was a fabulous work of art in it’s own right, there was another part of the ceremony where the groom, along with his singing family and friends come to meet the bride and he placed a veil over her face reciting a Hebrew prayer.

The actual service itself took place under what I thought looked like a really pretty gazebo however, this was the Chuppah mentioned in the invite – it was all making sense now! The service was conducted by the Rabbi in Hebrew in the main with the bride and groom, both sets of parents and a couple of siblings all around the Chuppah. The whole thing was glorious and even though I didn’t understand much of the narrative, the symbolism and visual solemnization was very moving and very beautiful.

Everyone under the Chuppah seemed to play a role and I think it’s that element, the fact that both sets or parents, both sets of siblings, oh, and the bride and groom have a part to play, it’s as though the two families are being brought together, not just the bride and groom, another thought that popped into my mind whilst observing which required yet another tissue!

Near the end of the ceremony it’s traditional to recite seven blessings, a part of the ceremony known as sheva berakhot, these blessings are recited over a cup of wine, which in my opinion is a very civilised thing to do! Several people under the Chuppah took part in this and I learned later that it’s the bride and groom who choose who participates and it’s a HUGE honour! Again, how lovely is that!! Whilst the blessings were given the congregation were singing a beautiful Zemirot, (Jewish hymn), which I found myself humming along to!

The ceremony ended with the traditional breaking of the glass, which symbolizes that even in times of great joy, we remember that there is still pain in the world (which Jewish tradition relates to the destruction of the Jewish Temple). After the glass was broken, we all shouted Mazel Tov! With great gusto and enthusiasm. And that was that, a full packet of tissues used we all filed out into the sunshine and made our way to the most ostentatious wedding reception I’ve ever seen but, as they say, that is another story I’ll bring you in the near future!

What’s on today?