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judy smith Dec 2015
In every tribe and culture, a wedding is cause for a celebration. And all of those celebrations involve some degree of negotiation among the couple, their families, their cultures and their traditions to make the experience meaningful and powerful for everyone.

Rabbi Adam Greenwald, director of the Miller Introduction to Judaism program at American Jewish University, said when it comes to Jewish nuptials, even born-Jews will have differences. Is one a secular Zionist and the other Modern Orthodox? Reform and Conservadox? The combinations seem endless.

But, for Jews by Choice, there is the added wrinkle of following Jewish practice while making sure beloved non-Jewish family and friends feel included.

When Jazmine Green, who went through the Miller program, and Jeremy Aluma started planning their Jewish wedding, Jazmine’s Catholic mother revealed that she had always dreamed of watching Jazmine’s father walk their daughter down the aisle. The Jewish practice of having both the bride’s parents walk her to the chuppah and remain there with the groom and his family throughout the ceremony was unfamiliar and she resisted it.

Greenwald, who each year officiates at the weddings of 15 to 20 couples in which one person is a Jew by Choice, often meets with non-Jewish families early in the preparation process to talk through these issues and answer questions. He recognizes that, for some parents, there is real sadness when a child chooses a different faith.

“I try to honor those complex emotions and assure them I only want to help create a special, meaningful day for everyone,” he said.

He suggests couples create booklets to explain Jewish terms for attendees who may not be familiar with them and that they make sure the officiating rabbi offers a few sentences of context before each stage of the wedding. These can range from a word about the Sheva Brachot, or Seven Blessings, to explaining to a Christian family that a traditional ketubah is written in Aramaic, the language spoken during the time of Jesus, as Rabbi Anne Brener, professor at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, has done.

Of course, the wedding itself is not a classroom. Jazmine and Jeremy Aluma kept their printed program informal and friendly with questions such as, “What’s up with the circling?” Their explanation of the ketubah concluded, “It also puts a monetary value on Jazmine’s head so she can hold it over Jeremy for the rest of their lives.” About the glass-smashing, they wrote, “If you’re a Jew, you know that as a people, we’ve overcome adversity and make up a thriving global community. Being torn apart encourages us to grow and gives us the opportunity to come back stronger and more resilient than before. We break a glass as a symbol of this natural process.”

Des Khoury, another student of Greenwald’s, and Moshe Netter found a way to recognize many of their families’ traditions in their ceremony and afterward. They were married by Moshe’s father, Rabbi Perry Netter, who explained to the guests that the chuppah, which symbolized the house Des and Moshe were creating, was open on all sides to indicate that everyone was welcome.

Des is a first-generation American. Her father is Lebanese-Egyptian and her mother Armenian; her family’s faith tradition is Catholic. Her wedding program included ways to express congratulations in Hebrew, English, French, Arabic and Armenian. And after the ceremony, Des and Moshe emerged from yichud, or their moment alone, to the horah, followed by an Armenian song and folk dance, and then an Arabic tune. By that time, she said, everyone was dancing.

The material of the chuppah itself can be inclusive. Brener said she once officiated at a wedding beneath traditional Ecuadorian fabric brought to Los Angeles by the groom’s Catholic family.

Music, explanations and words of welcome are nice, but when it comes to actual participation by non-Jews, every officiating rabbi will have his or her own halachic opinion. Because the marriage liturgy itself can be completed in about 10 minutes, many feel there’s room to add appropriate ritual. The mothers of Des and Moshe, for example, lit a unity candle under their children’s chuppah.

Jessica Emerson McCormick, who was born into a Jewish family, researched clan tartans before her marriage to Patrick McCormick, whose Catholic family is Scotch-Irish. Jessica and her mother found a festive blue, red and yellow pattern, and had it woven into a length of cloth and made into a custom tallit for Patrick, as well as special kippot for him and his father to wear at the wedding.

Along with that plaid tallit, Jessica and Patrick’s ceremony included several rabbi friends reading the traditional Seven Blessings in Hebrew, followed by members of Patrick’s family reading English translations. Both of Jessica’s children from a previous marriage were on the bimah, and her son wrote and read his own interpretation of the seventh blessing.

Rabbi Susan Goldberg at Wilshire Boulevard Temple said having non-Jews read translations of the Sheva Brachot is “a nice way to include friends and family in the ceremony.”

Because all translation is a kind of interpretation, Greenwald said he also approves of participants riffing on the basic idea of a blessing to create something that especially speaks to the couple. He finds that the needs of the couple can get lost while they’re making sure everyone else is happy, and sees one of his jobs as helping them stay focused on what they need, how they can be kind and compassionate, but still have the wedding they desire.

“The most important thing,” he said, “is that the couple under the chuppah have a powerful, meaningful experience of commitment.”

Because the wedding day marks a transition to what Jewish tradition sees as a new life, many rabbis encourage couples to go to the mikveh before the ceremony. Often for Jews by Choice, it’s their first visit since their conversion and a chance to reflect on how much has changed since then.

It wasn’t clear at first that Patrick would choose to become Jewish. When he did decide, Jessica said, his family was supportive. Like the families of the other Jews by Choice interviewed for this article, his parents were happy that he had chosen to include religion in his life.

Des, who said she spent years searching for a spiritual practice that felt right to her, also found her parents accepting. “To them, it’s all prayer and God. They’ve even started looking forward to invitations to Shabbat dinner.”

Jazmine’s mother, too, witnessed her daughter’s spiritual seeking and was glad that she found a place that felt like home. In recognition of that, she even gave up her front-row seat and walked with her husband and daughter to take her place under the unfamiliar chuppah.

The officiating rabbi, Ari Lucas of Temple Beth Am, spoke to Jazmine and Jeremy about coming together with the support of their community. He reminded the guests that they were there not just to witness. Together, this mix of family and friends, cultures, languages and traditions would help — and go on helping — the couple begin their new life together.

read more:www.marieaustralia.com/formal-dresses

www.marieaustralia.com/evening-dresses
Allyson Walsh  Apr 2016
Untitled
Allyson Walsh Apr 2016
Google search:
What happens
During a miscarriage?

A friend asked
For encouraging words,
I didn't have enough.

I don't know what it's like
To lose your own
Flesh and blood.

All I know
Is what it's like
To lose you.

After I comforted
Her with words
That could never be enough,

I thought
Of
Your eyes.

We used to whisper
About our future -
Predicted the faces of newborns.

I've dreamt about
Our false
Daughter.

Her caramel skin:
Ecuadorian
Soft brown eyes:
Similar to yours

She's real.
In another lifetime,
In a parallel universe,
She's real.

Perhaps all the children
Who were meant to be
But never were
Are in the same space.

The many who appear
Through exciting
Positives.

And the few who
Never get
The chance.
For a friend and myself

"10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage."

I wrote this very late last night. I know there isn't a lot of structure to it, but a lot of my heart is in it.

I've truly dreamt about her. And I will never get the chance to meet her.
Martin Bailes Mar 2017
Just because I think it would be a beautiful
idea if Trump & Bannon could be strapped
down in a Rocket aimed for the outer
reaches of the infinite starry galaxies
doesn't mean I wish them gone,

& just because I'd love to see Julian Assange
work the mines in the deepest bowels of
the high Ecuadorian mountains
doesn't mean I wish him ill,

& just because I'd be so satisfied by Mitch McConnell
pimped out on a Detroit street in mid-winter
while his man keeps an eye-out from a
warm & very smooth cadillac nearby
doesn't mean I wish him a tough evening,

& just because I'd be real chuffed to see Paul Ryan
in all his 'What Me Worry' shallow smile
earnest do-gooder front be flown to Calcutta
as shock-therapy & made to clean the wounds
of leprous beggars,
doesn't mean I'm sensing justice,

& just because I really am down with that oh so
sincerely evil David Duke being forced to perform
street cleaning duties in darkest Baltimore
doesn't men I'm feeling righteous,

& just because I'm very, very o.k. with the idea &
then the actual practice of some sort of natural
justice doesn't mean I'm being unrealistic,
a dreamer, or need to relax awhile.

These are my dreams folks.
Gemini Nov 2018
America the great
America my favorite escape
You’re slowing falling deeper into turmoil and today was the day we were supposed to plan your escape
There’s a man leading you and your people into a grave
America please fight for yourself so we can go back to calling you brave
Stop letting them get you to conform, if you bend anymore we’ll literally forget your original form
And I don’t know if you know it yet or not but you and Russia seem to have an on and off relationship and the man that’s misleading you is how the wall was born
Immigration laws keep separating kids from their parents
Thank God my mom was born here but what about the friends that I cherish
Mrs. Pakistan doesn’t have a man but to keep her in the states she’ll be marrying this American
What about my Mexicans? My Africans? My Dominicans? And my Ecuadorian?
Bill Cosby drugged women and I married a handful just so more innocent families aren’t torn apart
Like I said before I’m selfless with my antics
I’d do anything to not see another family get separated and put in a panic
America we aren’t talking about money when we said we need to see a lot of change drastically before upcoming dates
Segregation can’t be taught anymore if it’s a current event and it’s happening before journalists can document the dates
Aren’t you tired of seeing blood and tears shed on your wide estates?
America I won’t make this too long but I’ll just ask this last question
America, Are We Too Late?
Oscar Osorio  Aug 2018
De Dónde
Oscar Osorio Aug 2018
“Oscar, de dónde vienes?!”
As I hear the rich ****** attempt my native tongue
My tongue goes native with quietness
A long stare, I don’t dare to say a word
I don’t care to even dare to say a word
I’ve gone through this before
I can write you a history book on the history
of me being discriminated
I can show you my profile on being profiled by you
Any season is a good season to give you a reason to question my allegiance to this flag
In Trumps presidency, it’s ok to ask this
It’s ok to ask if “I’m a illegal” because I don’t look like you people
I’m part of the 52 percent that get asked this because of my accent
But I will prevent you from hurting the minds of the innocent
You call yourself American but I’m from 2 of the 3 America’s with full knowledge of all Americas
My rice has more culture than your entire structure and whitewashed culture
Your ignorance doesn’t translate these rolling Rs that your daughters love
“Oscar, de dónde vienes?!”
As I hear the rich ****** attempt my native tongue
My stubborn tongue refuses to give in to your oppression
But for a second I catch my reflection and see my parents
I smile, “I proudly come from Ecuadorian parents”
And I walk away leaving the ****** red and embarrassed
Emil Cerda  Jun 2020
13: 51 P. M.
Emil Cerda Jun 2020
"What else could I ask from you, Sofia?
Knowing that loving you is a challenge.
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy,
And I don't trust my foolish brain.

"It's that I have had girlfriends in my biography.
And in the beauty I distrust,
I better do you a tomography,
Because I trust your brain the most.

"When love is gone comes the epitaph,
That it is buried in Philadelphia.
The memory becomes the cenotaph,
When she remembers you weren't ****.

"Remember when you inhaled gofio?
... pretending to own the mob,
And Elifio's lover,
But the doctor detected you an atrophy.

"That you are Ecuadorian, it is because of the geography!
That you make references, is for the bibliography!
What do you know how to write it's because of the orthography!
That you «*******» a lot it's the fault of *******!

"«I feel» something for you; take me an x-ray;
Don't worry, I photograph my heart.
For you to understand the video, Sofia;
My heart beats like white-crested elaenia.

"The dance your betrayal didn't choreographed.
I laugh, since maybe it filmographed
In another part of the scenography.
I saw you in bed with him, Sofia,
And with your mobile, I took a picture of you.

"Anyway: if I am born again, Sofia,
I will study ethnography
To evade you; love wrote:
Emil doesn't believe in your «love», and that stunted him."
Poem written on the back of the book Modification of Conduct, by Garry Martín. A book that Emil had bought.
Mateuš Conrad Feb 2019
european article 11 & 13...

a comment i wish i made:

my convulsing, ardent attempt to craft a hello to break a silence, as humor ridden as possible...weird prosthetics... scouts of the daft void, limbo passives... i hope i am the words that say: you cannot abandon the life that is most clarifying to you, in the current, & subsequently apparent... can i allow myself to suppose playing ping-pong with a (hopefully) awaiting recipient? i made notice of what people leave in the comment section in a spectrum of other pages... and... i... had to forget myself, being socially adept, for the worth of a market sq. pseudo-tirade... i don't want to sell Ecuadorian bananas... or Russian promises...these are my words... they are but akin to scuttling rats... harangue.. misnomers by any misnomer standard... bait of the contra-blank... i want to write, what is worth forgetting, with what i am to fall asleep with, and not wale up with, tomorrow; which i will, nonetheless will, have to wake up with; in short?

love the poetry.

who died what who what fate?
one cannot even
attempt
succumbing
to a non-rugby-player
status
of language usage...

              so...
no... forget it...
      me?
i'm starting to even bother
giving a **** about
the whole affair...

     the e.u. the e.u.
  the e.u. the e.u.
       the e.u.
is on fire...
    the e.u. the e.u.
is on fire...
the e.u. is on fire...
we need no water let
the e.u. burn
burn e.u. burn...

   Kentucky...
we also wished you came
across
the Atlantic...
to deal with the Nazis...
because...
we were the people
who needed the
more the mode of
more McDonalds...

H'america:
      needed elsewhere!

   hey!
'ere we go go no go...
status
sub-Stockholm suburia.
Ryan O'Leary Jan 2021
D     A                     G
If I:  wrote a song: by my window
D                      A                           G
And the bars: were the strings: of my soul
D                    A                      G
What words: could I write: for an echo
D                A                                    G
Because I: have been eight years: alone
D                            A                        G
There are things: in my solitude: haunting
D                           A                    G
Like the sounds: I remember: from home
D          A                       G
Koala: and kangaroo: sunsets
D                      A                                 G
But the lights: have gone out here: once more
D                      A                                 G
But the lights: have gone out here: once more
D                     A                          G
I hear morse: on the pipeline: it's morning
D                      A                     G
Dot dash dot: dot dash dot: a warning
D                  A                     G
It is saying: there will be: no parole
D                  A                      G
It is saying: there will be: no parole
D                         A                               G
But these lines: they have left here: I know
D                         A                                G
But these lines: they have left here: I know
D                         A                                G
But these lines: they have left here: I know
D                         A                                G
But these lines: they have left here: I know
D                         A                                G
But these lines: they have left here: I know

                    (last 5 lines fading)

                                  <>


This is about Julian Assange who is currently
in Belmarsh Prison London UK after 8 years
in the Ecuadorian Embassy now in poor health.

© Ryan O'Leary
16/01/2021.
Ryan O'Leary  Apr 2020
2012-2020
Ryan O'Leary Apr 2020
What's with the moaning,
it's hardly been two weeks
and people are cracking up.

Four times in the past eight
years I made a pilgrimage
to the Ecuadorian Embassy
in London to see Assange.

Once, he caught a glimpse
of me from his confinement
and on it goes without any
sign of it reaching conclusion.

Give a moments thought now
for those in Gaza and Palestine
where lockdown is hereditary.

— The End —