Changing hearts

I went to a wedding last evening. The engagement wasn't announced in the paper, there was no wedding shower, no bachelor party. There were no engraved invitations, no cascading flowers or organist. But there was two people joining their lives together, two witnesses to this powerful moment, and a rabbi providing the blessing of the Almighty upon this couple's union.

The groom and groom had met 14 years earlier to the date and in their words to each other they shared what that day and every day since has been like. They spoke of highs and lows, moves across the country, and all of it together. They cried, the groom's daughter cried and I cried. It was more emotionally and spiritually powerful than I could have imagined. Listening to the rabbi give blessings that have been given over thousands of years of history brought it all together.

At dinner after the ceremony, we were discussing the tears - especially from one of the grooms who had previously shared that the ceremony was not going to change anything - and the rabbi said the tears came from the ability to share their love and commitment freely, openly, and with recognition from a higher power.

Mazel Tov