Rabbi Rena Singer will be officiating the wedding ceremony. She currently works as an assistant rabbi at Temple Sholom in Chicago where Brendon, Jessica, and Jessica's family attends. Not only is she working with the couple on preparing for this wedding, but she has also been working with the couple as Brendon takes the steps to convert to the Jewish Reform faith.
YES PLEASE! This is the start of all the wonderful festivities of the wedding day and is an important part to the wedding to the bride and groom :)
A Tisch is the start of the festivities where the groom and bride sit separately and start celebrating and preparing for the upcoming ceremony with food and drinks. This will be a time for friends and family to come see the groom or bride separately and give them advice and well-wishes for the upcoming marriage.
The ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract that outlines the responsibilities both the groom and the bride have towards each other in the upcoming marriage. Before the ceremony the ketubah will be signed by the bride, the groom, the rabbi, and two jewish non-family members asked to stand as witnesses to the agreement by all!
A kippah or a yarmulka is a cap traditionally worn by Jewish males. There will be kippot given out for anyone who wishes to wear them during the ceremony. We welcome anyone who wishes to have one to take one before sitting for the ceremony, but please do not feel obligated to wear them if you do not wish to!
To start the ceremony first the groom and then the bride will be walked down the aisle by both sets of parents. The rabbi, groom, bride, their parents and their siblings will all stand together at the end of the aisle under the chuppah.
The chuppah is a canopy with four posts that symbolize the future home the couple plan to build through this marriage.
The 7 circles are a tradition that takes place during the ceremony. First, the bride will circle the groom 3 times, then the groom will circle the bride 3 times, and finally the bride and groom will take 1 circle together. These 7 circles are to symbolizing the creation of a new family circle between the bride and groom.
The Sheva B'rachot otherwise known as the seven blessing are a set of blessings given in both English and Hebrew to the bride and groom. They start out small such as the blessings of wine and culminate into the blessing of life and peace.
To end the ceremony the groom will step on a glass in a bag shattering it into pieces. Once this is done the entire wedding will shout "MAZEL TOV!" in celebration of the happy couple! Throughout history the action of the breaking of the glass is thought to represent many different important themes such as a reflection of the destruction of the sacred temples to the fact that people and relationships can be fragile and to always be aware for as long as it takes to put the pieces back together so too must this new marriage last!