They had a Yemenite Rabbi with a great tall bowler hat do the chuppa. I was excited because I understood a bunch of the words this time, but suddenly I didn't understand anything. I was getting pretty disheartened about my Hebrew skills when Ophir whispered that it was a Yemenite prayer and he didn't understand any of it either.
In Hebrew, to live like two doves is to live closely and happily in marital bliss for ever and ever, Amen. In the James and Janet version, we live like two chickens in a coop, but that is besides the point. The Rabbi opened the chuppa by telling a story of a young couple who returned home from their wedding to find two doves sitting on their kitchen table. They went to the Rabbi and said "Rabbi, we came home from the chuppa and found tow doves on our kitchen table. What does this mean?" The Rabbi though for a long time, looked a the bride and groom solemnly and replied, "I think it means you left you kitchen window open."
The venue was surrounded by orange and grapefruit trees. I was so excited to pick my own orange off the tree. James pointed out the irony of stealing fruit in Israel. "Forbidden fruit" he tisked. Of course, Benny and Cesar, with whom we were sharing a ride, are sometimes boys in men's bodies- especially after a few whiskeys- felt that my one stolen orange was not enough. And so we now have a whole bowl of forbidden fruit in our kitchen and I believe there are still more rolling around Ophir's trunk.
1 comment:
those fruits look sinful indeed.
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