Saturday, September 01, 2012

Wedding Under The Stars

In the American Jewish "wedding hall" in which we got married, there was a small hole in the ceiling, so that the chuppah, Jewish marriage canopy would be "under the stars," at least directly under the sky, when held in daylight.  According to Jewish tradition, an outdoor chuppah is considered better than an indoor one.  I've been to lots of Israeli weddings, at which the chuppah has been in smelly parking lots and crowded terraces and in the mud and drizzle for that reason.  Sometimes the later dancing would leave mud all over the fancy hall's floor.  That's why, lots of Jewish halls try to arrange it in at least a symbolic way with the skylight which can open directly to the sky.

The other night I was at a wedding at which the only "ceiling" was the cloth chuppah, which I was able to see in the distance when I began walking down to Tel Shiloh. 


The entire yishuv of Shiloh was invited to the ceremony and later dancing.  I just went to the ceremony.  Here aer some pictures.








My camera is starting to show its age and gave me "trouble," so the pictures didn't come out all that well.

2 comments:

Miriam said...

Batya, the first Israeli wedding we went to 22 years ago was our daughter Naomi's. The wedding was a kibbutz wedding in Gush Etzion. Dancing and singing the Chatan and then the Kallah to the chuppah was amazing. After the chuppah the fire crackers and a flowered tractor to take the young couple to their new home blew us away. Still living in Canada talk about culture shock!

Miriam

Batya said...

A pleasant shock I hope...