Their Big Fat Gay Jewish Wedding

The advantage of being an independent synagogue means you can pretty much make up your own rules. We've seen a lot of different things at Congregation Beth Shalom, but none more special than the wedding we attended yesterday. It had all the trappings of a traditional Jewish wedding, except with two grooms. The beautiful ceremony began with some beautiful harp music from Annette Bjorling.

Here come the page boys....

Long time blog readers will be interested to know that Scott was Moses in Holy Neuteronomy! Fortunately this time he appeared without the beard!

Here's his husband to be Josh, with his parents Jeff and Eileen.

In orthodox Jewish weddings the bride circles the groom seven times. This time each groom circled the other three times.

Under the chupah the grooms hold up their rings before exchanging them.
At the end of the ceremony they both trod on glasses. Traditionally this symbolizes remembering the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and all that is broken in the world. For this couple, they remembered that life for many other same gender couples is not so easy.

"Hey, give me a hand up before you eat all the cake!"

Hava Nagilah, don't mind if I do. After the ceremony traditional dancing with the newlyweds carried aloft on chairs with a handkerchief between them.

Blogger's Note: This was a religious ceremony only. Scott and Josh are not having a civil union although they have recently become legal in Illinois. Instead they plan to get married in New York State where they live and gay marriage has just become legalized.