Saturday, October 25, 2008

A Beautiful Wedding But Oh So Sad

My wife and I were invited to the wedding of a young couple whose families lived on the Golan Heights, in the Moshavim Nov and Ramat Magshimim.

The setting for the wedding was idyllic, on a beach, the Blue Beach, situated on the edge of the Sea of Galilee in Tiberius. Following our very hot summer the temperatures were comfortable and the lawns adjacent to the beach were bedecked with tables and chairs for over 350 guests.

The reception for the guests was held on lawns on another part of the site allowing guests to munch tasty tidbits such as chicken wings, salmon, typically Moroccan dishes such as “cuba” or “sigarim” and mingle amongst the guests meeting old friends and meeting new ones.

As we well know, traffic in Israel can be quite horrendous with many slow moving stretches as people leave work and head for home. A number of important guests arrived much later than planned so the wedding ceremony was held up for 45 minutes to allow everyone to arrive.

After the groom had bedecked his bride with the traditional veil, everyone headed for the “
chuppah” (canopy) under which the actual wedding ceremony took place. The “chuppah” was situated down a series of steps on to the small beach in a cove that led to the water’s edge. Here the stark reality of Israel’s water shortage became so apparent and stark. The small cove in which the wedding ceremony took place should theoretically be full of water but the small pier to which small boats would normally be berthed was approx 5 meters above our heads!! So sad!!

In the synagogues around the world, the prayer for rain was introduced into the daily prayers last week and in Haifa those prayers must have been particularly fervent, for within 24 hours there was an immense downpour. It was reported that 3.1/2’ of rain fell in the Carmel Forest in the vicinity of the University. Let’s hope that this is a sign of things to come this winter. My gosh we need it.

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