Bedekin, um I’m not sure what the official translation is except perhaps maybe “veiling.” As in when the bride’s veil is pulled down over her face by the groom. The historical reasoning for this is so that the groom knows who is behind the veil and isn’t tricked into marrying the wrong girl.
BEDEKIN, from our wedding program:
This tradition of veiling the bride is derived from the biblical story of Jacob’s wedding. Jacob did not see his bride before the wedding ceremony, and was tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel.
The bedeken is a private ceremony at which the groom is escorted to the bride before her veiling. As the groom lowers the veil over the bride’s face, he is formally acknowledging his choice of bride.
As you can see, our bedekin wasn’t private, but that’s OK. It meant that our families were able to witness it, stay warm and dry, and add their blessings as well.
Hehe, my mom hugs just like my youngest brother, like a big lump. I’m not sure I’d noticed that before.
I’m not sure if my grandmother reads this blog, but I’ll say here: I’m disappointed that she was late because she missed the reason I have a wad of kleenex in my hand: my uncle Charles (my late grandfather’s youngest brother) gave us a blessing and said that he wished my grampa was able to be there. Thankfully, that’s the only time I cried all day. Maybe it’s better that my gramma wasn’t there, she’s not a very public person with her emotions.
Neither of my aunts were their either, that was kinda disappointing too, but none of them are into public emotions or really Jewish stuff either. Oh well. They can look at these pictures and wonder “why was I outside, freezing my tush off for a good seat and missing this whole thing?”
Honestly, I’m not sure what’s going on here. I was too high on adrenaline. There was something about taking Rabbi Marc’s tallit with intention and that meaning that I want to take Ben as a husband. Or something like that. I’m not sure.
Then, it was time for our male witnesses to sign our ketubah! Ari, Ben’s friend on the left, Ben peering over their shoulders, Rabbi Marc in the middle, and my oldest friend, Michael on the right. I’ve know Michael since we were THREE at Temple Rodef Shalom preschool in McLean, VA. He didn’t have a beard then :) Oh, and I’m obviosuly the marshmallow in the background. I wanted to see too!
I think that photo was taken when Rabbi Marc was explaining that the last letter of the ketubah was intentionally left 1/2 written so that the contract would be written, right there in front of us all, on the wedding day. I thought that was pretty neat.
The reason we wanted male, Jewish witnesses is that we wanted to make sure that our ketubah would be kosher and accepted in Israel. It’s a traditional text with a flowery English translation that we’re both fond of. [We even got it framed over the weekend and should be able to pick it up in 2 weeks!]
KETUBAH: from our wedding program:
Before the ceremony, two witnesses under the supervision of the Rabbi will sign the ketubah, the Jewish wedding contract. The ketubah is a legal document, written in Aramaic that specifies the bride’s rights and the groom’s obligations to the bride. Traditionally, there is no need for the bride to sign the ketubah because according to Jewish law the ketubah is her property.
Ben and I signed our names on the bottom, in English (mine looks like a 12 year old, I was kinda spacey), but there’s no religious obligation to do so. It was my contract and Ben let two witnesses sign it as a way of saying that he accepted it. That’s how a Jewish court (Bet Din) would see it anyway. If Ben had objected, the rabbi wouldn’t have let 2 guys sign it as his representatives.
We had 2 girlfriends (Becca, who introduced us at Hillel, and Andrea, who was my first friend at Interlochen) sign our Colorado license. The third document we had, which was actually signed first, was an pre-nuptial agreement of sorts; it said that if I should ever ask for a divorce from Ben (in a religious court) that he would be required to give it to me. Otherwise, a Jewish divorce can only be initiated by the husband. We had two family friends who are both young and divorced, although one is remarried and the other just recently engaged, sign it for us (Mark the Russian, and Ethan).
That was it, we were 1/3 married (rings and yihud were to come shortly). Then, there was lots of singing and I think someone tried dancing but no one else went along with it. Once all the guests had gone out to the ceremony site my mom and Ben’s dad helped Ben into his kittle (the one my mom spent Wednesday->Friday making).
To be continued…..
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