Shani and Avior’s Simcha

written with joy by Debbie Havusha

              ‘Kol chatan ve-kol  kalla.’ (The voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.)

              ‘ Kol sasson ve-kol simcha.’ (The voice of joy and the voice of happiness.)

The soulful and grateful voices of Avior Emanuel and Shani Havusha transcended the Chuppah on Wednesday, June 13^th, 2018. This rabbinical union of marital sanctity with blessings of plenty, united many.  An abundance of guests who are part of our Jewish nation came together to witness and to participate in the great mitzvah ‘le-sameach chatan ve kalla’; to make the groom and bride happy.

The happiness of a couple is impacted by those that rejoice with them and bears great significance to the success of the couple in building a Jewish home in the Land of Israel.

The wedding took place in an exquisite setting in the Judean Hills called ‘Derech Eretz’  (www.deretz.co.il).  Derech Eretz literally means, the way of the land.  Its’ figurative meaning is a credo of living life with just and compassionate values.  The Creator, the Almighty, created the land so that we honour it with our thoughts and actions.

The wedding that Shani and Avior created was thoughtfully planned and it embraced a myriad of Hassidic, Sephardic, Ashkenazi and secular traditions.  The guests that arrived came from a wide spectrum of Jewish practices and all rejoiced together with bliss and blessings of bounty to honour the newlyweds, Shani and Avior Emanuel.  Those that wore their ‘ tsisis’ and maybe had side locks and wore kippot, and those of modest adornment with varied feminine head coverings, rejoiced alongside those of other Jewish distinctions of stylish Israeli dress.  All were on the dance floor, that divided yet united.

There was an enveloping canopy of peace, ‘Succat Shalom’, that happened both under the chuppah and later to the tunes of the DJ in the wee hours of the night.  All this happened under the heavenly stars.

Just as the ‘Star of David’ protected and strengthened King David and the Jewish nation, so may we, the Jewish people, celebrate our unique and collective Stars of David to be heard from far and wide to honour our diverse contributions of who we are and what we do.

Baruch Hashem, blessed is our God, and blessed is our bride and groom whose voices are beautiful melodies of divine union, gratitude, diversity, peace and simcha!

Mazal Tov dearest  Shani and Avior.

Your proud ‘Ima’, Mom J