Mazel tov! An uplifting celebration of Jewish brides

If you opened up a book about 100 Jewish brides, what would you do first? 

I looked at the pictures, that’s what I did first. They are plentiful and surprising in this book. 

Second, I read the opening story. It’s by Peta Pellach, an Australian. She romps through generations of family weddings in the northern and southern hemispheres. She also describes a tradition of divorce in her clan and assures us that she will not follow that path.   

Third, I cried. And I kept crying, in almost every story. There are more than a hundred short, fast-moving pieces in this book about brides from places you've never imagined Jews lived. The stories are not sad, and they're not soppy. Some of the marriages worked out, some didn't. I cried either way. 

I cried because we are here, still. Jews, making weddings.

One of the book's editors, Shulamit Reinharz, told me she wasn’t in the mood to celebrate the book’s launching. She doesn’t know what to say at the events. She has launched dozens of books, but she said it felt trivial to be celebrating a book about Jewish brides at this moment.

“What?” I said to her, “Do you know nothing about Jewish history?” This was a rhetorical question. Shula is a professor emerita of sociology at Brandeis University who has done groundbreaking work on Jewish women. Her spouse is a leading historian of Israel and Zionism. She knows a bit about Jewish history.