What
NON-RELIGIOUS Jews
CAN EXPECT
at a
RELIGIOUS Wedding
RACHEL KURLAND | JE STAFF
Five years ago, I coerced my non-religious, sushi-eating,
bar-hopping best friend to join me on a Birthright trip
to Israel.

This past summer, she got married in a traditional
Orthodox wedding.

As the first of my closest friends to tie the knot — and
the first time I joined a wedding party as the maid of honor
— it was a bit of a shock that she embraced her religious
side and made such a huge life change in just the past year,
especially knowing her Jewish upbringing involved a Bat
Mitzvah and nothing else.

Part of me was surprised that my friend jumped into
a drastically different lifestyle. But on the other hand, she
has always been spontaneous and passionate, and I knew
that anything she wanted to do, she set her mind to, and
I was always by her side along the way.

That said, it was definitely a mind-boggling switch from
spending time with her eating buffets of sushi and Chinese
food to reading all the labels for the kosher “U” stamp.

After recovering from the overall bafflement of finding
out about the man in her life through a Facebook engage-
ment post, I focused on the ceremony, planning table
arrangements and dresses (somehow I got away with a
backless purple number) rather than facing the tough
questions of a lifelong commitment.

22 OCTOBER 27, 2016
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM