Older and Weiser

I can’t say for certain that the sound of a champagne flute being smashed underfoot at the end of a wedding ceremony was heard for the first time ever in Franklin County, Missouri last Saturday evening. But it’s possible.

According to Sperling’s survey of the best places to live in the US, the Jewish population of this ex-urban county of 100,000, about 50 miles to the west of St. Louis, is 0. Whether or not that demographic is precisely accurate, it’s fair to say that the good people of Franklin County who attended my son’s wedding were not practiced at saying Mazel tov to wish a bride and groom “good luck.”

But say it they did, in a clarion voice. It was an unmistakable utterance of warmth and welcome that filled the courtyard where the ceremony took place and every heart therein.

The spontaneity and togetherness of it caught us by surprise, those 50 or so of us there who are accustomed to these Jewish practices. I, for one, never thought those words sounded as sweet as they did on Saturday.

When we moved from the ceremony to a reception, grace and Hebrew prayers over bread and wine were said. It was the grace, though, that causes a lump in my throat to form.

My new daughter-in-law’s Uncle Don offered a beautiful message of thanks. The family is Catholic and we were expecting him to end it with the words “We say this in the name of Christ, our Lord.” That would not have included everyone in the room, however, and including everyone was what mattered to Don.  So, instead, he ended with: “We say this in the name of the Lord, our God.” The significance was lost on no one.

Amazing, really, that such a subtle word change could be so powerful a message of welcome. As I tell this story, I am humbled by Don’s generosity and his eloquence.

And, deeply appreciative of his grace.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Michael Weiser