Part 2- Kiddushin- Sunday July 29, 2007

At long last, it’s official - we’re married.

After a week with Rebecca’s family in Lake Tahoe, we were finally ready to close the deal. Rabbi Cohen officiated at our synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley. The Kiddushin ceremony is very short and very sweet. It consists of seven brachot or prayers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheva_Brachot

We didn’t have to do much really, except stand under the Chupa in the presence of loved ones and friends. Oh yes, at the end we did get to kiss.

Rebecca’s cousin Joel Resnikoff and his wife Irene, surprised no one by offering generous hospitality at their home after the service with a Sheva Brachas feast. They served all of us a delicious and joyous meal. Joel makes a mean black bean chili. Afterwards our guests honoured us again with the seven brachot.

The Kiddushin and Erusin ceremonies are usually held at the same time. We split them up to observe the mourning period prior to Tisha B'av, which fell on July 24th, 2007. Most Jewish traditions observe a ban on weddings in the period prior to Tisha B'av. There's more information on Tisha B'av here:

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Tisha_BeAv/PrimerTishaBeAv.htm

The Kiddushin was held on Erev Tu b'Av. Tu b'Av, or the 15th day of the Jewish month of Av, is the biblical equivalent of Valentine's Day. In the Hebrew calendar, that will be our anniversary. Yes we find it a little confusing too. But here's more information:

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Modern_Holidays/Tu_BAv.htm

While this was the day we became officially married, we did so without cameras, so we don't have pictures. But since we have so many from the other events, we figure it all evens out.

Love,

Rebecca, Rami & Ben

Part 1- Erusin- Sunday July 22 2007

Welcome everyone!

This is our ever growing collection of photos from the Erusin ceremony. We give many thanks to photographers extraordinaires Shoey and David (http://www.shoeysindel.com) as well as first assistant director of photography Denise Resnikoff and second assistant director of photography Karen Goldberg.

So, let's begin at the beginning or at least, close to the beginning

As most of you know by now, the story of Ben & Rebecca's wedding has taken a turn or two along the way. Our original plan was to have a very small ceremony of immediate family only. That was revised to have two very small ceremonies of immediate family only. The first of these is called Erusin.

For those of us who don't know much about Erusin, the following link may be useful:

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/lifecycle/Marriage/LiturgyRitualCustom/Erusin.htm

Our Erusin ceremony was held on the sort of beautiful, sunny, picture perfect day that we rarely get here in the Bay Area in the summer. Some one must have been looking out for us.

We gathered at Cragmont Rock Park in the hills of North Berkeley. Given the spectacular weather, we were able to enjoy gorgeous views to the south and west overlooking the East Bay, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the view to the southwest.

In any religion known to personkind, a wedding day cannot commence without the ritual obsession over the bride's hair. In our case, our chief floral hairstylist was our friend, Hannah Karpilow.



She did an amazing job.


We really mean it!

As always, accessories are everything.



With that out of the way, the ceremony began with the women in the audience taking Rebecca away to a covered part of the park, for one last attempt at talking sense into the would-be bride while there was still time. Three generations of Landes women contemplated their inability to complete the task.

From left to right that's Rebecca's niece Hava, niece Hannah, mom Rachel and identical twin sister Carmi.

Given the all clear, the men in the audience were then asked to accompany the groom over to meet the bride and get the ceremony going before the bride reconsidered.

With everyone assembled, the gathering was welcomed by Rabbi Yonatan Cohen


We started with the Bedeken,

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_lifecycles/wedding/blwedding2.htm

so Ben could make sure he was not marrying Rebecca's identical twin sister Carmi by mistake. Having verified that the bride was the correct identical twin (to the great relief of Carmi's husband), we lowered the veil to ensure there would be no further confusion, at least for the duration of the ceremony.

Having that out of the way left us relieved, if ever so slightly out of focus.


The ceremony then continued with the Ketuba signing, in exchange for which Rebecca gave Ben a ring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah

The signing began with instructions and explanations from Rabbi Cohen. As chief counsel, Rami and Ben's nephew Asher were close by to whisper in our ears should we need to take the Fifth.


Our friend Jory Gessow was there to make sure we used our best penpersonship.

Asher was key to the transaction, serving as ring bearer.



Next, our mothers said the blessing over the children. This is one of the more enjoyable Jewish traditions. You can find the blessing here:

http://judaism.about.com/od/sabbathdayshabb2/qt/bless_children.htm

Rebecca's mom Rachel gave it in Hebrew.

Then Ben's mom Phyllis read the blessing in English.


Next we moved to an open part of the park and gathered under the chuppa (a beautiful silk canopy painted by Sandy for her marriage to Art), with wine and ring.


Our Chuppa standard bearers were: Ben's brother Andy, Rebecca's sister Carmi, and Rebecca's brothers Elliot and Jonathan.



Rami was the essential player this time in his role as Ring Bearer Number Two.



After that, it was on to a cup of Kiddush wine.


Finally the smashing of a glass (it contained a filament [nudge, nudge, wink, wink]) and a big Mazel Tov!

We had some toasts before eating. Ben gave the first one with assistance from some key helpers.


Then Rebecca's sister-in law Linda got in the act.

Even Rami said his piece!


We then sat down to a delicious meal outside in the park. The food came from Hugh Groman catering and is highly highly recommended. (http://www.greenleafplatters.com/)


For dessert, we had a killer chocolate orange wedding cake. It came from Masse's Bakery in Berkeley.

A two-shot really can't do it justice. We need a close up.

Actually that won't work either. We'll need an extreme close up.

We were fortunate to have East Bay musical legend Achi Ben Shalom play at our ceremony.

Achi's music prompted some very enthusiastic dancing.


Ours was a low-key relaxed ceremony. Helping us create that vibe, were some of our family and a few close friends. Here are Sandy and Art, lenders of the chuppa
.
We're used to seeing cousin Joel Resnikoff being hospitable and this day was no exception.

The Landes siblings were there in force.

Left to right that's Jonathan, Elliot, Rachel, Carmi, the bride and the groom.

Rebecca's niece Hava came along with her boyfriend Jonathan.

Brother of the groom Andy Rose sampled the food.

Nephew of the groom Asher Rose was rather more excited at the prospect of travelling to New York than being hassled by the groom.



Here's Karen Goldberg and Rami's half-sister Ilana:

Even our friend and lead photographer Shoey was permitted a brief diversion.


We were lucky to have a few young people with us. This is Rami and his New York cousins, Michael and Hannah:

Hannah's (our chief hairstylist) daughter Esther joined us.

She found time to shoot some hoops!

Jory (our witness) and Lisa's son Sam, Rami's classmate also joined us.

As is his nature, Rami found a way to make things more fun!


Certain images deserve freedom from pithy commentary.



More pictures coming soon, we promise!

Love,
Rebecca, Rami & Ben