Wedding In Chevron

When I was in mechina in Ramat Hagolan (the Golan Heights) I had a family on the moshav who adopted me, but since I returned to Israel I had not recontacted them. However this past Tuesday I got a message from them, their daughter is getting married in Chevron in the Marat Ha'Machpelah (the cave where the patriarchs are buried) and they wanted me to try and come. Now normally making a wedding is not too hard, but when the wedding is on the same day you get the message it is a bit trickier. So I immediately called them and began to work out how I would be able to make the wedding.

The wedding began at 1830 and i got the message at 1330. They told me there was a bus coming from the Golan, and someone from a nearbya Kibbutz was meeting the bus. I got the families number and arranged to ride with them to meet the bus. So I Tremped (Israeli hitch-hiking) to the families kibbutz and met them, we arrived at the meeting point with the bus the minute they arrived too, and we were on our way. We arrived in Chevron at 1745, plenty of time to spare.

The wedding itself was beautiful. Both the bride and groom were from Avne Etan, so there was a large number of people I recognized from the Moshav. The brides receptions was set up in a fashion I had never seen before. She was in a low white chair, with a high white back, and before her lay a carpet stretching out from her as it swept away from her. on either side of her sat her friends who being below her gave the impression of her as a queen sitting upon her throne. Her friends playing instruments in the background only added to the effect.

When it came time for the Chuppah, the fathers escorted the groom and the mothers the bride to the Chuppah. The happiness radiating off the two of them was so infectious I am pretty sure if your pet cat was run over you right in front of them you would still be smiling.

When the bride and groom returned from the Yichud room, the dancing and joy which followed was absolutely lovely. The most interesting part was when everyone started to do a Yemenite dance. In all honesty I could not figure out how to do it, its back forward, leg up, step right, or some mixture of the above.

Since the wedding was at the Ma'arat Ha'machpelah I also had the pleasure of davening (praying) there twice.