So special to receive these thank you’s!

What a beautiful night!  An interfaith wedding – beautiful bride and handsome groom with oh so fabulous shoes!!!  Red soled shoes!!!  And some of you fashionista people know what that means!!

A beautiful Jewish interfaith wedding in Philadelphia at the Crystal Tea Room.  Old world beauty and elegance.

Our beautiful bride immigrated to the United States with her mother from Ukraine some years ago but most of the family still remains in Ukraine.  When they planned their Jewish interfaith wedding, the family was prepared to come from Ukraine.  Sadly, all we could do last night was to give a shout out to them and wish them and all the people of Ukraine well.

I love to add cultural elements to interfaith ceremonies and last night was another wonderful one.  Bride’s mom came up to lay down the rushnyk, a special carpet for the couple to stand on while she blessed them and before they did their vows.  This was very special.  Her mother held their hands and blessed them.

It was hard not to take that moment to appreciate how lucky we all were to be celebrating this wonderful Jewish interfaith wedding safely and in a beautiful setting.  The Jewish prayer, the shehechyianu, is a prayer of gratitude that we say on the first night of every Jewish holiday and on every joyous occasion.  We said it last night with extra special gratitude that we could be in this place on this evening and be safe and celebrate the love of this beautiful Jewish interfaith couple.

And…..picking up my daughter’s ketubah tonight to have it ready for her wedding in just a few weeks time!  Stay tuned!!!  I’ll tell you all about it – a personalized ketubah designed by my daughter with the artist and because her husband is from Spain, I suggested writing the ketubah in English and Spanish so his family could read and enjoy as well.  Check her out –  Elyse at our-ketubah.com.

Shavua tov!!!

Rabbi Marsha Jane