Message From The Rabbi

Rabbi Spike Anderson

This coming Friday night, we are elevating a wonderful tradition here at Temple Emanu-El, one that is likely to bring tears of joy to everyone in the Sanctuary. 

The Hebrew date of the 15^th of Av is something like the ‘Jewish Valentine’s Day’, in that it is traditional to celebrate love and rebirth.  It is a day that lionizes what I would call ‘mature’ romantic love, the profound, deep love that is most often felt through lifelong marriages.

And so, this Friday night, married couples who are celebrating their ‘milestone’ wedding anniversaries will be called up to the bima, and under our Chuppah, receive blessings from the congregation. 

Personally, I look at every wedding anniversary as something to truly celebrate.  Our tradition lauds these relationships as truly sacred, allowing us to experience the very best that life can offer.  “Kaddosh,” they are called. Elevated. Holy.

All the more so when a couple is celebrating their 5^th, 10^th…20^th…50^th…60^th…and so on.  These milestones are an inspiration and aspiration that marriage can work and that a myriad of blessings flow from their union.

Any year this type of recognition and celebration from our Sanctuary would be most welcome, but I would suggest that now, especially NOW, we need this more than ever.

The Talmud (Ketubot 17a) posits the scenario where a funeral procession and a wedding procession encounter one another at a crossroad.  The Sages ask: Who gets the right of way- the funeral, or the wedding?  Who should get to go first?

Their answer, emblematic of a Judaism that has L’chaim/To Life(!) as its mantra, is that the wedding party gets priority.  The funeral (and the sad, tragic parts of life) will always be there.  They need to be honored, of course, but we Jews must exert ourselves to elevate opportunities for joy and celebration whenever (and wherever) we can.  This is how we stay positive when times get tough.  This is how we exhibit resilience (perhaps even defiance) in a world that can seem grey and uncertain.

So… won’t you join us?  Perhaps to honor one of our milestone anniversary celebrants, or perhaps just so that you can get a dose of joy and uplift, with your sacred community at Temple Emanu-El, on this August Sabbath eve.