Rabbinical Assistance Nowadays

The item that caught my attention:-

Alyssa Barrett Litoff and Joshua Todd Gordon were married Saturday at Rosecliff, a mansion in Newport, R.I.

Dr. Timothy Johnson, a Evangelical Covenant Church minister and the senior medical contributor for ABC News, officiated, with the assistance of Rabbi Jonathan P. Kendall.

Mrs. Gordon, 33, is a producer on the ABC News program “Nightline.” She graduated magna cum laude from Brown. She received a master’s in journalism from Columbia.

The bride is a daughter of Judy Barrett Litoff of Providence, R.I., and Hal Litoff of Bellingham, Wash.

Mr. Gordon, 36, is the founder and president of Red Pocket Mobile, a wireless service provider in Marina del Rey, Calif. He works in New York. He graduated magna cum laude from Williams College.

The bridegroom is a son of Rhona Susan Gordon and Dr. Stephen Ross Gordon of Santa Barbara, Calif.

My attention caught:

a) Saturday? Was that Shabbat or Saturday night?

b) Weddings are not permitted during the 'three weeks' period, between 17th Tammuz and 9th of Av.

c) Mixed-marriage wedding or just mixed-ministers? And see his criticism of Jews for Jesus (here) which begs the question: a real Christian then must be better?


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Mixed Marriage in the NYTimes But Not In the Wedding Section

Mixed Marriage Woes

My soon-to-be mother-in-law, who is Jewish, never had a problem with me as a non-Jew — until now. She’s worried that I’m “indoctrinated” in Christianity and will force my views on our future children. But I wasn’t raised a Christian, nor do I consider myself one. My fiancé and I have tried explaining this to her several times, and I’ve agreed that our children will be raised Jewish. But it never seems to sink in.

Anonymous


Sounds like a perfect vehicle for Joan Rivers and Blake Lively. We’ll call it “Guess Who’s Coming to Seder?”

Interfaith issues can be tricky. But since we’re dealing with only one faith here (and one non-faith) [stupid. it's one faith that's isn't Jewish], this one isn’t exactly a brain-teaser. Plus, it sounds as if you’ve already handled the issue — and nicely, too.

Your imminent mother-in-law may be anxious about sonny-boy growing up and moving on — or she may have wanted a Jewish bride for him. But those are her issues to deal with, not yours, and she probably will, over time. [but it is also the husband-to-be's issues, no matter what his opinion be of which, somehow, we do not know anything]

Try to be as patient as possible. But make sure you feel supported by your fiancé and let him know when you don’t. And if I were you, I might not invite Big Momma to any Easter egg hunts in the near future.

Hello dear. Your children can't be Jewish if you are not Jewish. That's why you mother-in-law-to-be is upset.

Of course, if religion means nothing to you, why not go through a conversion process just for the heck of it. Then everyone will be happy, especially in another 20 years when your child decides that he/she would like to marry a Jew who is a bit more demanding and comitted to his/her religious values.

The Rabbi Came Second (at the Wedding)

Andrew Lippa, a composer, and David Bloch, a film marketing executive, were married on Tuesday in Los Angeles. Diane Wayne, a retired judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, officiated at the home of Paula Holt, a friend of Judge Wayne’s.

On Sunday, Rabbi Daniel Sklar will lead a religious ceremony with his wife, Cantor Shirah Sklar, at the Mr. Lippa’s and Mr. Bloch’s country house in Milford, Pa.

Well, Jewish Family Service

Mr. Bloch...is a son of Ellen Bloch and Donald M. Bloch of Framingham, Mass. His mother retired from the Jewish Family Service of Metrowest in Framingham.

And when love fits

Mr. Lippa and Mr. Bloch met in May 1998 in the lobby of the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center...Mr. Lippa said he was “instantly smitten” by Mr. Bloch. “I felt that magic thing you feel with someone who fits,” he said.

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And here we have mixed traditions:

Kimberlee Dawn Auletta, a daughter of Mary and Richard Auletta of Manhattan, was married on Saturday to Eric Daniel Landau, a son of Nancy and Peter Landau of New Hope, Pa. The Rev. Cathlin Baker, a minister of the United Church of Christ, led a ceremony that included Christian and Jewish traditions at the summer home of the bride’s parents in Killingworth, Conn.

Here, too

Tamara Lynn Wieder and William Brock Bair were married on Saturday at Blithewold, a historic house and estate in Bristol, R.I. Dennis I. Revens, who retired as the administrator of the Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Court in Providence, officiated at a ceremony incorporating Presbyterian and Jewish traditions that was led by Anne D. Lowrance, a friend of the bridegroom’s family.

And one more

Suzanne Christa Hoppough and Neil Robert Blecher were married on Saturday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester. Rabbi David Abrahams officiated at the ceremony, and Cathleen M. Brauen, a minister of the Sanctuary of the Beloved, assisted.

Er, How "Traditional" is a Mixed-Marriage

Dear Readers,

I once posted a few items on mixed-marriages. I don't really think positively about them but hey, everyone is free to make his own choices, mistakes or errors.

But this caught my eye simply as a philosophical semantic question:-

July 22, 2007
Deborah Elizabeth Bernstein, the daughter of Constance Bernstein and Dr. Kenneth Bernstein of Needham, Mass., is to be married today to David William Foster, a son of Nancy and William Foster of Signal Mountain, Tenn. The Rev. Garnett Foster, a Presbyterian minister and an aunt of the bridegroom, is to perform a ceremony incorporating Jewish and Christian traditions at the Rollins Chapel at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

If we're relating to "tradition", just how traditional are mixed-marriages?

And here's another:-

Barbara Ann Huscher and Steven H. Cohen were married on Thursday evening at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Gallen, a Methodist minister, officiated, and Rabbi Devon A. Lerner took part in the interfaith ceremony.