A Thanksgiving Day Wedding

Thanksgiving Day I officiated Ginger and David’s wedding at their home in North Dallas, Texas. This was a really special. Many Jewish weddings are celebrated under a chuppah, which serves as a symbol of the home the couple builds together. Just as Abraham and Sarah had their tent open on all sides to welcome guests, so too is the chuppah open to represent the hospitality and sense of community the couple hopes to create in their own home. With this wedding, we did one better. We had no need for a mere symbol of home and hospitality. We had the real thing, as we celebrated this wedding in the couple’s home, surrounded by their family and very close friends.

Ginger and David decided on November 22nd, Thanksgiving Day, as the day they wanted to get married for a number of reasons. It was Ginger's late father Bob's favorite holiday, and 22, as her cousin reminded her, has always been a significant number for Ginger. Thanksgiving has been important to David’s family, since they immigrated to the United States, as the quintessential American holiday.

Here are the remarks I shared with them:

Ginger and David are extraordinary together. Spend just a few moments with them, and you can sense not just their love, but their deep friendship. They are truly best friends.

They are both passionate about each other and passionate about life. They work hard and they play hard. They have formed not just a genuine partnership with each other, but a wonderful, loving, cohesive family with Sally and Peter.

So, one might ask the same question they each asked themselves and each other rhetorically many times over the last decade, why get married? I mean, if everything is working well, why is that last detail important?

Now, Ginger and David are very close with their families, and Ginger says the idea of marrying was crystallized for her by one of her many cousins. This cousin asked her why they did not get married, and Ginger, like any good Jew, answered the question with a question, and asked why they should? His answer was simple yet profound, "Because you love each other."

Now, I don't know how much longer that person thought about this short exchange, but it really resonated with these two. They resolved to marry, because they love each other. That's it. You can't really top that, so let's not try to, let's get these two lovebirds married!