Wedding Music for IDF Soldiers

Many soldiers were at the wedding, plus those who couldn't be there.

And many of us guests have soldiers on the front. 

Am Yisrael Chai!

עם ישראל חי

Joyous Wedding

We were privileged to be invited to a beautiful joyous wedding, which was held last night in Jerusalem. I got to see so many good friends, which was a bonus. Thank Gd.  May the young couple be blessed with good health, lots of wonderful healthy children, long life and a super-sized sense of humor, Gd willing.

Dancing Up a Storm-MAZAL TOV!

I've been to so many weddings, dozens, probably hundreds over my lifetime. My very first memory is the wedding of an aunt and uncle when I was just over two years old.

And every wedding is different, has something unique about it. Even the most  ordinary and conventional weddings are memorable, because each couple and the families and friends are different.

Last night we were at a very special family wedding at the Jaffa Port, not a location I'm familiar with at all. This couple actually made sure to tailor their wedding according to their requirements, but it still had all of the elements of a Jewish Wedding, the chuppah (wedding canopy,) blessings, ketuba, food, dancing, great joy etc.

And the dancing was to their favorite sort of music, which isn't the music I usually hear at weddings, but my kids and I danced together on the sidelines.

When I see how beautifully my kids dance, I consider that my late mother is with us, since she loved to dance! I guess we inherited those genes from her.

Two Weddings in One Week!

I honestly can't remember the last time I've been to two weddings in just one week. Both were Shiloh weddings, children of neighbors. It was so nice to be with my wonderful neighbors as we all celebrated together.

First wedding

Of course, each wedding was very different, considering the parents and the young couples.

But they were both totally joyful!

MAZAL TOV!

מזל טוב!!

The Newest Green

When I was growing up, nailpolish was red, pink, coral for the daring or a white pearly color.  Those are pretty much the only colors you won't find in my collection.  I have blues, greens, orange, yellow, purples and metallic nailpolish.  For some inexplicable reason I have become a fan of greens, firstly apple green.  But a few months ago when visiting the states I grabbed a different type of green, more of a sage green.

And that's the nailpolish I ended up wearing to my son's wedding.

My outfit was black, an old, black dressy skirt, plus a black sequined top, bought on sale in Atlanta, GA, and a black and gold hat.

PS I do my own manicures; they're not perfect, but that's life.

The Wedding!

Well, to be honest, this will be a difficult post to post, because my kids don't like me to write about them or post pictures of them.  Last night our youngest got married.  We still have more who are single.  At the wedding someone who doesn't know the family well asked if this was the "last wedding."  I answered "G-d forbid.  He's the youngest.  I hope more of our kids will get married."

Just in case you're curious, I wore black, a black skirt and a black sequined top and black and metallic hat,  and couldn't quite figure out what color nailpolish to use.  For some reason, I had bought sage green around the same time I bought the sequined top and after spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide which color from my collection, I wore the sage green.  It looked better in person.  It sparkles because I used a coat of cold sparkle on top.

The young couple planned the wedding.  As far as I could tell they used the basic chuppah set up the hall does and didn't bring in an "artistic arranger."  It all looked gorgeous.  With scenery like that you don't need anything fancy.  Only the bride was more beautiful.

"co-photographer," took some of the pictures

And just in case you're curious. You're not supposed to be able to recognize people here, except for me and my husband.  The kids demand their privacy.

Double Busy Day, B"H, Chodesh Tov and Mazal Tov!!

Chodesh Tov.  Off to Tel Shiloh soon for Rosh Chodesh Prayers.

This isn't from our wedding, but yes we have a wedding, G-d willing tonight!

I photographed this in Jerusalem.  I don't know whose it is.

Two Funerals and a Wedding

Yes, that was yesterday.  In under twenty-four, more like fifteen hours I attendeded two funerals and a wedding.

Just after Shabbat, we got the terrible news that a neighbor's two decade fight to survive a failed liver was over.  Fourteen years ago he received a liver transplant. The doctors were amazed at how long he had survived his very precarious medical situation and numerous crises, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end...  G-d willing, bli neder, (don't consider this an oath) I'll blog about him in a few days when I can do his life and contributions justice.

Then in the morning, an sms from the Shiloh office informed us that the father of a different neighbor had passed away; the funeral was in Jerusalem.  Since my plan was to got to a wedding in Bnai Brak at night, I didn't even think I'd made the funeral, but the neighbor who was driving me called to say that since he studies regularly with the husband, we'd be leaving a couple of hours early for the wedding and going via the funeral.

There was another death announcement early afternoon that a different neighbor's brother had passed away.  How is it that after no such announcements for weeks, or was it months, there should be three in just a few hours?

It was rather surreal, dancing and singing and being so joyful after burying two very special people.  Tears of joys combined with tears of sorrow.  One should never compromise on the simcha, joy of a wedding.  A new family and new lives begin under the chuppah, marriage canopy.

May all live long, healthy, fulfilling and contributing lives...

And may the memories of the dead be blessed, yihi zichram baruch, יהי זכרם ברוך

Busy Start To The Week

Let's start with Benji's Havel Havelim! Don't skip it. He always puts on a great show!

Last night we went to a wedding, very scenic and multi-lingual. It took us a while until we found another guest we actually knew. MAZAL TOV!



It looks like I stupidly and inadvertently deleted the picture from my Rosh Chodesh Sivan Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh. I'll post more about it on Shiloh Musings.

In between going to the Tel to pray and going to the wedding, I babysat for the grandkids. Yes, I was busy!

At A Wedding and...

Last night we were at a gorgeous wedding. I'll be posting more from it, bli neder.

I did a stupid miscalculation in terms of transfering and burning files/pictures from my camera. Now I know that the movies use up tons of memory. I figured that I didn't have all that much on the camera, since the memory card wasn't full at all. So I went to the wedding, took lots more pictures and even more movies/videos and then got all fouled up trying to burn them onto disks. It seems like one of my disks came out empty, even though I can't imagine why. I'll have to check them all now. There is one working, and you'll see a couple of pictures here.

At least I still have the entire file on the other computer, where I'm youtubing one of the wedding videos. When I finish will all the burning, I can transfer all the files to the extra memory thing I got in the states. I must get another of those.

It's Friday morning and there's just too much left to do before Shabbat. So, you'll just have to be patient.

And sorry if there are typos, the spellcheck insisted that everything's hunky dory, even though I know there are words here that blogger doesn't like, but I'm not arguing right now. So, please forgive.

Scenes From A Wedding

There were a few "innovations" here, at least as far as I've experienced.

Yes, the chuppah, marriage canopy is being held up by females, as well as males. They also had "couples," a male and female called to say the brachot, blessings, though the mic was only held by the man's mouth, and the women were silent, though smiling a bit embarrassedly.

Here are some of the guests. Can you name them?
Here's the last picture I managed to take before the batteries went, and when I placed the spares in the camera...

I discovered that they were dead, too. At least I had hoped that the batteries were dead. The alternative was that the camera was the sick one.

A Blogger's Mazal Tov

The goyisherebbe, who sometimes contributes to my blog Shiloh Musings, married off a daughter last night. Very conveniently for me, the wedding was in Ofra, so I was able to bring my granddaughters to the Chuppah, the ceremony.

It was a very beautiful wedding, held in the Ulpana, the girls high school.
The Chuppah was outside, even though it had been raining most of the day. Apparently, G-d approved the plan, since it stayed dry during the ceremony.
Lots of joyous dancing.
I had planned on trying to catch a bus home, since I didn't see any neighbors with cars, just some teenage friends of the bride and groom. Then I realized that I had just missed the bus. I gathered my things and went off to say goodby to the parents of both bride and groom. Yes, I know both sides!! Mother of the chattan, groom, told me that a bus was about to leave for Elon Moreh and I should see if they have room and would drop me off at the Shiloh Junction. I found the bus and asked the driver, but he said that he thought that the bus would be full. Someone overheard and told me that he was taking a ride in a car and there should be room for me. There was. And less than two minutes after they dropped me off, a ride pulled up and took me to Shiloh. I just had to walk up the hill. It began to drizzle, but it was fine.

MAZAL TOV!

Scenes From a Wedding

Last Thursday night we were at a gorgeous wedding in Jerusalem.


There was too much food.


Impressive fireworks.


And we took some of the flowers back to Shiloh to decorate the Sheva Brachot--post wedding celebrations. That was a lesson in "confidence." My friend was asked to collect the flowers. She brought buckets, but as the wedding wound down, she and her kids didn't quite know how to procede. What would people say? Could they really just go from table to table taking away the flowers?

I told them not to worry. "Lehavdil," different but, let's learn from Olmert. There he is, the country's least popular ever Prime Minister, with single digit approval ratings. Does he ever show any insecurity about it? No. He enters rooms with a big confident smile on his face. He says and does the most outrageous things and just dares everyone to defy him. He must have read every "self-help" "how to succeed" book ever published.
I'll help. We'll just go, with a confident expression on our faces, from table to table and collect the flowers.

So, that's what we did.

Multi-tasking

Yesterday I returned to work after summer vacation and two days of sick leave. Actually it was a good day to return, since I had only the 11th and 12th grades, very few students. Those who showed up were polite, well-behaved and even a bit enthusiastic. I explained what they needed to pass the bagrut, national final exams, in English.

Traveling was miraculous, Baruch Hashem, thank G-d. I kept my cool when I realized that I had missed the bus, which came "on time," instead of late; I was less than a minute's run when I saw it leaving the bus stop. Good thing I didn't panic. I caught a ride a few minutes later. It dropped me off at the "t junction" to Beit El, where I had to wait for a ride or bus to Beit El. A large vehicle with a "foreign press" sign was sitting there. As I walked by, I noticed them taking my picture. What will the caption be?

"Middle-aged woman with bag on wheels hitchhikes to Beit El."

A few minutes later, a van stopped and offered me a ride to Beit El. The driver was nice and took me all the way to the yeshiva where I teach. That saved me walking in the hot sun.

After my last lesson, I changed "uniforms" and got dressed and made up to go to a wedding.

Yes, it was a beautiful wedding.


The music and dancing were great!


I had my camera strapped to my waist and danced with it on. Periodically, I'd stop and take pictures.


That's the way to celebrate.

MAZAL TOV!!

"She's the lady in red, when everybody else is wearing tan"

Yes, that's from the theme song of The Nanny.

That's how I felt last night.




We were at this exquisite wedding on the coast, and I had never seen the invitation. Everyone, OK, just about everyone was in white, and I wore red, bright red.

Not only was the view out of this world, but even the OO's, WC's, ok, the public toilets were fancier than anything I had ever seen before.

Nothing discreet about it.



That sign up there says:

TOILETS

Because the family wanted the wedding on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month, the ceremony had to start before the sun went down, which meant that I was sure glad to have my camera with me!



MAZAL TOV!

That's where I was!

If you had passed by the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem last night, you might have seen this wedding.


It was nice to take a break from shiva (condolence) calls and the funeral, and I still have a shiva call to make.

I still haven't caught up on emails nor have I done my "visiting," but Baruch Hashem, thank G-d, Ive been busy with good things. Yesterday , conveniently, most of my classes were cancelled, so I wasn't late for the wedding. I got dressed at my son's Jerusalem apartment and must pick my bag up today.

At the wedding I embarrassed him by taking pictures. OK, when the day comes, G-d willing, when he gets married, I won't take pictures. I guess my "punishment" is that none of the pictures I took of him came out well, at least none which show how handsome he is.