BLESSING THE BRIDE

I’ve had many highlights in my life, just as everyone has. Seeing my husband and my two sons bestow the Cohen blessing upon our daughter on her wedding day was an over-the-top spiritual high. For me, the majesty of the tradition zoomed larger than the wedding of the Palace Royals. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-priestly-blessing/

I can remember with pride when my husband and I met with Rabbi Zuber z”l before our wedding.* He commented that with me as the daughter of Dov Ber haLevi, marrying a Cohen from the tribe of Kohanim was so special. The world has certainly changed since then.

Now, what I’m hearing from millennials and their concerned parents is a shift from organized religion and a turn to feeling only culturally Jewish; zeroing in on bagels with cream cheese and lox as their “religious” beliefs.

With this shift, although my husband and I each come from very large families, the distinction of us as the descendants of Aaron and Moses, respectively, is disappearing before our eyes. There is much discord in all faiths and it is a true wonder as to how it will evolve.

Upon leaving a bar mitzvah service recently, I heard one guest say to another, “there was so much standing and sitting.” The man responded, “Judaism has its ups and downs.”

On a serious note, maybe that is what made the tradition of our daughter’s wedding, and her brother’s before her, all the more special to us. Please use the comments section below to begin a discussion.

*“Nathan Zuber, Rabbi, 84 - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 1988/01/28 › obituaries › nathan-zuber-rabbi-84

Jan 28, 1988 - Rabbi Nathan Zuber, a Talmudic scholar and the spiritual leader of Beth David Synagogue in Roselle, N.J., for several decades…”