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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Reason #98043 for making aliyah

The following announcement is brought to you by the Our Shiputzim Aliyah Promotion Department.

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Picture this.

You’re at a wedding in Yerushalayim.

As is the tradition, the chupah (ceremony) is held outdoors, and the assembled guests are huddled in their winter coats against the clear, cold night air. (That is, all of the guests except for the chatan’s friends, who are in shirtsleeves and are apparently impervious to the chill. Or perhaps that’s why they jump up and down in time to the music which the band plays between each of the sheva brachot. But I digress…)

The mesader kiddushin (officiating rabbi) explains that the dust he’s about to put on the chatan’s forehead comes from Har HaBayit, Gush Katif, the Northern Shomron, and also the ruins of Kever Yosef in Shechem.

Then, just before the chatan breaks the glass, as everyone sings “Im Eshkachech” (“If I forget you, O Yerushalayim, may my right hand forget its cunning. May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not raise Yerushalayim over the top of my joy.” – Tehilim 137:5-6), you look around and see apartment buildings filled with beautiful, hopeful families and cranes signifying ongoing construction.

Does it get any cooler than that?

“מהרה ה’ אלוקינו ישמע בערי יהודה ובחוצות ירושלים, קול ששון וקול שמחה, קול חתן וקול כלה, קול מצהלות חתנים מחופתם ונערים ממשתה נגינתם…”

“Hashem, our God, let there speedily be heard in the cities of Yehudah and the streets of Yerushalayim, the voice of joy and the voice of happiness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the bridegrooms’ rejoicing from their canopies and the youths from their musical feasts…” (From the Sheva Brachot, based on BT Ktuvot 8a)

16 comments:

  1. We didn't read the first 98,042 reasons, but this was beautiful in its own right. Thanks.

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  2. Awww. Tugging at the old heartstrings now, aren't you?

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  3. No matter what one calls home, there is no place like Israel.

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  4. The mesader kiddushin (officiating rabbi) explains that the dust he’s about to put on the chatan’s forehead comes from the ruins of Kever Yosef in Shechem, Har HaBayit, Gush Katif, and the Northern Shomron.

    That's very meaningful -- thanks for mentioning it.

    We have a bottle of gush katif sand hanging from a nail, in our amma x amma "zecher lechurban"...as well as a key from my friend's home in Neve Dekalim which I had to take apart with them.

    וּנְטַעְתִּים עַל אַדְמָתָם וְלֹא יִנָּתְשׁוּ עוֹד מֵעַל אַדְמָתָם אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם אָמַר ה'

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  5. Yaffa - Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    Toby - Thanks. It was the wedding of our friends' daughter. As I posted here, you know you're getting older when you start going to weddings as a friend of the parents...
    :-)

    Raizy - Guilty as charged. :-)

    Ariella - לכל מקום שאני הולך אני הולך לארץ ישראל

    Jameel - Yes, it was an extremely moving and beautiful chupah.
    וּנְטַעְתִּים עַל אַדְמָתָם וְלֹא יִנָּתְשׁוּ עוֹד מֵעַל אַדְמָתָם אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם אָמַר ה'
    Amen, ken yehi ratzon.
    And now I can't get that song out of my head... :-)

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  6. nope i am pretty sure it was reason #98044
    why would somone even think it might be reson #98043

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  7. I think it is reason #98043, but what was reason 8?

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  8. reason #8 was the one with the...!!!
    how don't you remember:)

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  9. And reason 9? I also forgot #679

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  10. you said it was reason #98043 because you didn't remember #8 but because i did remember it i said it was reason #98044!!!

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  11. Either way, I really liked #4562
    But what is #8???

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  12. I have some of those scenes on my youtube.

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  13. Batya - There's nothing more amazing than attending an outdoor chupah in Yerushalayim!

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  14. Yes, this is the reason. I also can attest to the "wonderful outdoor chupah in Yerushalayim" concept personally: my younger son was married June, 2007, at Chavat Aviv, right outside of Yerushalayim. There is one special pic of him, and his kallah, standing under the chuppah, with the sun setting behind them; it evokes such a feeling of holiness...

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  15. Lady-Light - Sounds like it was a very special wedding. May you continue to have much nachat!

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