Wedding Update

We have a Rabbi, people, thats right ... place, check! rings, check! Rabbi, check check! Even if we don't get anything else we are definitely going to be married by the evening of January 24th.

Let me back up a bit. The Big Guy and I we are big into our Judaism, both as a culture and as a religion.  The Big Guy used to be a really religious and has become a lot more mainstream recently but still has a love for many of the traditions. 

I was born in the Soviet Union where practicing Judaism was illegal. So I grew up not understanding who I was or where I came from, all I knew was that I was a Jew and therefore I would never be considered truly Russian but also my family wasn't allowed to leave (for more info on how we were finally allowed to leave check out this film). 

So, after years of being scared, suspicious, curious, distrustful, and intrigued by religion, I started to get proactive. I started taking classes and learning and asking questions and figuring out not just what Judaism is but who I am. 

I first met our Rabbi when I signed up to do a condensed Bat Mitzvah course for people who had never had become Bat Mitzvah before, like yours truly. I so enjoyed his teaching style, his humor, his openness, his kindness, and his overall welcoming presence that I started going to all of his classes and bringing the Big Guy and all of our friends with me. 

When we got engaged, we knew we wanted someone who knew us, someone who cared about us, someone who was happy to see us take this big step together, and most of all someone who understand our strong feelings about our culture and ethnicity and he was the first person who came to mind. Blogland meet our officiant, Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff.

Check him out .... 

 

 

oh yeh, and he's British ... doesn't get much better than that.

{Videos from JEC}