Candles and sandals

May 13, 2009 - 11:21 AM by

NK in the daytime

NK in the daytime

Lag b’Omer 2009 is over for another year, and the scent of bonfire smoke still hovers in the air, or perhaps that’s the smoke from the EVOO used on my stovetop cast iron grill for last night’s dinner. In any case, all the windows are being kept open to banish the smoky air that made its way inside.

But on erev Lag b’Omer itself, which, incidentally, is our anniversary (a very popular day to get married in Israel, since it’s a ‘day off’ from the 49-day Omer, during which Jews traditionally don’t get married), we attended the wedding of the daughter of a dear friend, held at Neot Kedumim, a biblical landscape reserve located just slightly north of Modiin.

It was one of those ‘only in Israel’ experiences, as we drove down a rocky lane to the parking lot, and then trekked over to the wedding ‘site,’ where the makeup-free bride was surrounded by her headscarf-wrapped, guitar-playing, weeping girlfriends before the bedeken. The groom, when he approached to veil his bride, was outfitted like the rest of his friends in an untucked white shirt, khakis and Source sandals, the Israeli version of Chacos, and he was brought down in a fit of singing punctuated by the calls of a shofar being sounded by one of his buddies. He played a Bratslaver-like tune to his bride, but broke the tension of the moment with a wide grin directed to her, which she returned in kind.

We walked over to the site of the chuppah, down winding lanes situated between flowering pomegranate trees and silvery green olive trees, stooping to read the ground-level signs that offer biblical quotes about the trees, bushes and flowers planted all around. The chuppah was a tallit, the rabbi was casually serious and the bride, a dancer by training, tended to jump up and down during the lighter moments of the ceremony.

And when the ceremony was over, the new couple was danced over to their yihud space where they spent a good hour, before emerging to dance raucously but separately.

“They’re hippies,” said my husband. “Nah, they’re settlers,” said someone else, referring to the flowing shirts, dresses and sandals that can often be considered a uniform for some of the hilltop settler types. I thought of it as a wedding of Israeli Deadheads, but one thing is for sure: It was a wedding with a joyous vibe.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness 

Comments

2 Comments on Candles and sandals

  1. Beth on Wed, May 13th 2009 8:55 PM

    2. The wedding was as written. I wrote about it as well. It was the Deadhead wedding, complete with whirling dervishes and people just dancing wherever the urge took them.

  2. All Candle Supplies on Wed, Aug 26th 2009 7:53 AM

    3. Do you think paraffin is better than soy wax since it’s cheaper?

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